Finding You
by Oilux
Summary: Emi was being abused and hurt her whole life. Zexion is a vampire looking for his mate. When he and Emi come into contact with each other who knows what will happen between the two. Will he and Emi be able to show each other they have a reason to live?
1. A Nights Event

Hey everyone, time for a new story i have been working on for a while, so I am eager to see what people think.

Here you guys go!

Dedicated to ideas concocted at one in the morning

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_Chapter 1: A Nights Event_

_All these people everywhere_  
_kept me waiting and not knowing_  
_holding to myself fear is all that kept me going_

_-Minimal Compact  
_

Fireworks exploded in the sky with an explosion of color. Lighting up the star filled night in a way never thought possible. Amazing shades of blue, white, red and green exploded in the sky, capturing the crowds of people in the jaw dropping display.

Five friends sat under the stars, faces turned upwards toward the sky. They were all amazed at the sight, despite from where they were sitting, they could only see a fraction of the stars. The friends had chosen to sit in a small clearing away from the noisy crowd, away from the inconsiderate people.

These five teenagers were what schools like to call the outcasts.

There was only one guy in the group, and he was scary to all the other guys. He was known as Saïx, and was feared at school because of his 'berserk' state that he gets when his anger gets out of control. He was really only able to control his temper around select people, and right now those select people were the girls sitting around him.

Next to Saïx was a blonde. She sat with her knees to her chest, arms wrapped around them. She clung a notebook tightly in both hands. Her blonde hair was swept across one shoulder and she wore a pure white sun dress, perfect for the warm summer night. People could hardly get a word out of her, and some of her teachers didn't even know her name. Her best friends did though and it was Namine.

On the other side of Namine was a red head. She, if she wanted to, could have been one of 'the popular kids'. She wouldn't let herself be swept into that group, after they talked trash about Xion, her cousin. Kairi wore a bright pink dress, covered with zippers. It went perfectly with her red hair.

Xion, Kairi's cousin sat next to her. They were complete opposites, Xion had black hair and dressed in all black from head to toe. She wore a studded bracelet and kept to herself. She didn't have much self-confidence, and kept everything bottled up. Xion was loyal though and was more than willing to give herself up for her friends or the greater good.

All three of the girls had bright blue eyes.

Finally there was one last person. She sat next to Namine, and was the oldest of the group. Sparkling silver hair that fell down to her shoulders, she had purple eyes that matched her strange hair color. She sat perfectly still next to Namine looking at the fireworks. Namine was her younger sister, and everyone else was her closest friend. Emi wore a plain dark red t-shirt and black jeans.

The fireworks would soon end and the crowds would disperse. Emi and Namine would go and stay with Saïx tonight, his parents didn't really care if he brought girls over. As the last of the fireworks faded from the night, Emi and her friends got up from where they were sitting and started to make their way out of the clearing. The night itself without the fireworks was dark, but where the crowds were the lights came on, giving their small clearing just enough light for them to be able to see.

As everyone slowly got up, they began to chat about what they saw and how beautiful the fireworks were. Emi was the only one not partaking in the conversation. She was looking into the words, convinced that she had heard something. When a while passed and nothing emerged and no other sound was heard, she turned away and followed her friends who went ahead of her.

"Emi! Hurry up!" She heard Namine call. Emi quickened her pace, quickly catching up with her friends and sister.

The trail got really small just for an instant, and then opened up into the area where the crowd was. Everyone had to go through one at a time, with Saïx going first. The lights in the main clearing shut off; everyone else always leaves right after the fireworks end.

Emi was the last person to leave the trail. As she took a step out, a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her roughly out. Without even thinking she reached into her pocket and grabbed her knife, before she can even fight the knife was ripped from her hand. Emi was forced against something, something _alive. _She realized that her back was pressed against someone, not something. She could feel them breathing but not their heartbeat. She tried to get away, but a pair of arms had her pinned in place. She looked up and saw each of her friends in the exact same position that she was in, even her sister.

In the blink of an eye, Emi's head was tilted to the side and she felt a breath on her throat. The next second pain pierced her neck, like a snake bit her. The pain quickly passed, leaving only awareness that someone actually had their mouth on her neck. This seemed to last for hours but was really only minutes.

Emi felt herself begin to grow weaker, her knees starting to buckle. She knew that if whatever he was doing kept up, she wouldn't last much longer. With the last of her strength she stomped her foot down on the offenders. She felt him grunt and he lifted his mouth away from her neck. Without saying a word, he picked her up and brought her over to one of the other men there.

"Alright get her out of here. Everyone stop we need to check them all." The man said. The one carrying her started walking. Emi saw the stars, then darkness, and now a ceiling. She kept herself awake.

"Hey are you alright?" the man asked

"My names Zexion" he said. And with a swift motion he pulled back his hood.

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So tell me what did you think?

Review please! It means a lot!**  
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	2. Waiting

Ha! Two chapters in two days! How awesome am I?

So awesome!

Well here you go! Hope you enjoy!**

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_Chapter 2: Waiting_

_Waiting for the end to come _  
_Wishing I had strength to stand _  
_This is not what I had planned _  
_It's out of my control..._

_-Linkin Park  
_

Zexion, or so he said his name was, took a step back. Emi blinked hazily up at him. She was laying down on something and whatever it was, it was really, really soft. She struggled to stay awake. Emi lifted herself so that she was at least sitting up. She held onto the bed post giving herself a lifeline in the sea of dizziness.

Through the haze she looked around. It was obviously a bedroom, there was a bed and a book shelf that covered the wall from floor to ceiling. Besides the books, there were very few personal objects. It was a bright plain white room but it had a window seat with pillows, suggesting that someone spent a lot of time there.

Emi slowly brought her gaze back to Zexion. The dizziness was beginning to pass, and slowly she stood up. Still holding onto the bed post, she stood up straight and looked Zexion straight in the eye.

"What's going on? Who are you? Where is my sister?" All these questions were on the tip of her tongue.

Zexion stared at her for a second, then heaved out a sigh. "My name is Zexion, I don't know where or who your sister is right now. And I can't answer your other question."

"Well, why not?" She snapped back.

"There's going to be a meeting in a couple of minutes that will explain everything, just be patient until then." He said

"Hey don't tell me to be patient. I'm stuck in a room with a guy I don't know, not knowing where the fuck my sister is, where I am or WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED OUT THERE! So don't you dare tell me to be patient!" Emi yelled.

Zexion flinched and took a step back. He raised his hands up defensively.

"I know, I know. Look it's just for a couple of minutes, okay?" He said desperately, just trying to calm her down.

Emi nodded but didn't sit back down. Instead she moved over to the window seat and sat down there. She stared out the window, looking at the pouring rain. It pounded against the window in a never ending stream. It was so dark out that Emi couldn't see the rain until it hit the window. The pounding filled the room covering up the silence. Emi couldn't help but begin to wonder where she was, how she got here and how the weather changed so dramatically from the gorgeous summer night to this cold rain.

A sharp ring cut through the silence. Zexion brought a phone out of his cloak. He answered it, but didn't say another word besides hello. He just listened. When whoever was talking was finished, he put his phone back away and turned to Emi.

"They're ready for us."

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Alright so what did you think? Tell me please!

The next chapter we find out all about what Zexion is and whats going on and such and such.

I dont own Square Enix (wish I did though)**  
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	3. Getting Answers

Next chapter!

Enjoy!**

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_Chapter 3: Getting Answers _

_"Ever notice how 'What the hell' is always the right answer?"_

_-Marilyn Monroe  
_

Emi slowly arose from her seat at the window. She steadily walks behind Zexion as he walks out of the room. The whole place that they're in is white. White walls, white floors, it was all blinding. Emi squinted her eyes, but held her head up high as she followed behind Zexion, showing that she wasn't intimidated. They seemed to walk for forever. Zexion led her down flights and flights of stairs, constantly turning corner after corner. Emi quickly lost where she was, all the hallways began to look the same.

Zexion walked calmly, knowing exactly where he was going. They didn't see anyone else, but Emi knew that there were other people here. It just didn't make sense that there would be this huge place for just a small group of people. Emi was willing to follow for as long as she needed to, as long as in the end she got some answers.

Zexion finally stopped in front of an enormous doorway. It reached from floor to ceiling, coming to an arch at the top. He easily pushed the doors open; they creaked as he did so. Emi and Zexion entered side by side, where everyone was standing, waiting for them. Emi looked over and saw her friends gathered in a small circle, she quickly went over to them.

"Emi, thank goodness, we were wondering if you were okay. Do you know what's going on?" Kairi ran up to her and asked. Everyone followed after her and Emi found herself surrounded by them.

"I don't know anything, where's my sister?" She asked.

"We don't know, she's the only one not to arrive here yet." Saïx said. They all leaned against the wall and Emi finally got a good look around. Humongous chairs sat on the floor, reaching extensive heights. In the middle of the floor was a symbol, and the room was perfectly round. Emi counted each one of the chairs and ended up with thirteen. One chair was clearly higher above the others, while others were very close to the floor. They all each had numbers on them to. Ignoring the possibilities of what the numbers could be Emi chose to look at her friends instead.

They all looked the same still. Kairi was her normal bouncy self, Xion was quiet, and Saïx was just trying to get Kairi to shut up. Emi smirked at his efforts, it was impossible to quiet her once she started on one of these mindless blabberings. There was one knew development though with all of her friends. They all each have tattoos.

These tattoos were extremely detailed. They wove across where the neck met the shoulder, spreading across the shoulder to about mid bicep, going down to about mid shoulder blade on their backs. Each one varied in color. Kairi's and Xion's were almost the same dark blue color, but Kairi's was a lighter color. Saïx's was a golden color that blended well with his skin color. Emi couldn't help but stare at them, knowing that they hadn't been there before.

"Um guys, where did the tattoos come from?" She asked.

"We don't know that's what we're waiting to find out." Xion said.

"Ya know you have one to right?" Saïx stated.

"No I can't say that I did." Emi snapped back.

"Oh, here I have my compact." Kairi handed Emi a compact that she magically produced out of one of her many pockets.

Emi held up the mirror and she could see her own tattoo. It was a silvery-blue color, spreading up her neck and onto her shoulder, she couldn't see it ending where it spread on her back, but she assumed it went a bit further. It was just as integrate as her friends tattoos. Mumbling curses to herself she snapped the compact back closed and handed it back to Kairi.

"Hey it'll be alright, you'll see." Xion said, speaking up to offer words of comfort.

They didn't know how long they would have to wait but they all knew that they were waiting for Namine. Emi took the chance to note that they weren't the only people in the room, there were other guys here. While Saïx, Xion, and Kairi talked and tried to make the best out of the situation, the others just sat on the other side of the room, staring at them.

Emi saw a silver haired man stare at Saïx, a brunette stare at Kairi, and a blonde stare at Xion. The only other person there was Zexion and Emi could feel him stare straight at her. Finally, just when it seemed like Namine might never show up, the door opened again.

Namine walked in with her head down, arms still wrapped around her sketchbook. She took small steps, like she didn't want to go anywhere at all. She had a tattoo of her own, hers though was an aquamarine color.

"Namine." Emi said. Namine's head snapped up and she ran to Emi. She ran and wrapped her arms around Emi, practically clinging to her. Emi held onto her, stroking her hair and murmuring words of comfort.

"Finally now that the final people have arrived we can begin." Everyone looked at the man now standing in the middle, right on top of the symbol.

"My name is Xemnas." He said. It was full of arrogance and pride, and Emi automatically knew that he made sure he had the highest chair.

"Well, I might as well introduce everyone else here. This is Roxas," He pointed to a blonde with spiky hair, "this is Sora," Xemnas pointed to the brunette, "emo over there is Zexion," Xemnas received a glare from Zexion; Emi had to repress a smile at his expression. "And mister late over there is Riku." He finished up pointing at the silver haired youth.

"Hey there's no easy way to say this so I might as well. Were all vampires." Xemnas let out with a sigh.

He received skeptic stares.

"You've got to be joking" Xion said.

"You're kidding right? You dragged us off in the middle of who-knows-where, made us wait for an hour and then come up with that?" Kairi screeched out. She tried to take a step forward but Saïx put a hand on her shoulder.

"Ugh look I know how this sounds, but it's true. Were all vampires" Xemnas sounded exasperated.

They continued with this conversation for a while, Xemnas was the one to answer all the questions, to try to get them to believe. It wasn't going to well. Emi was the only one not to contribute to the argument.

"How do you expect us to believe this?" Namine asked. She had finally let go of Emi and stood on her own.

They were all silent.

"Prove it." Emi said

"What?" All the supposed 'vampires' said.

"You heard me prove it. Prove what your saying is true. Were obviously here for some reason, otherwise you wouldn't have kept us alive. So prove that you are what you say you are and fill us in on what's going to happen to us." Emi sounded more worn out than Xemnas, her voice starting to strain with exhaustion.

"Anyone have a knife?" Riku asked with a smirk. Emi tossed him a switchblade she had.

"I better get that back, never leave home without it." She muttered. Riku smirked.

"You will."

In a flash he slashed the knife right across his wrist. In no time the blood started coming out of his wrist and started dripping onto the floor. While they all were staring the cut healed, closing back up within seconds. Everyone stared at the place where the cut was. It had been deep enough to leave a scar, but there was no mark, it didn't even look irritated. The only evidence that it actually happened was the bright red spots on the ground. Riku tossed the switchblade back to Emi.

"Ready to listen to what we have to say now?" Roxas spoke this time. He got nods from everyone.

"Take it away Xemnas."

"Alright, well long ago, centuries after humans were created, a magician started drabbling in the dark arts. His name was Xehanort. One day while experimenting with the darkness itself, something went wrong. An explosion happened. The darkness got away but some of it got into Xehanort, causing him to become the very first vampire. He struggled for years, not knowing what he was or what happened. He started experimenting with what he could do."

"He discovered that he was practically indestructible. And that he was capable of almost anything. He discovered how to make other vampires." Xemnas paused. "He created some of the very first vampires, by giving them some of the darkness that was in his heart. When he drank from them, he gave them that darkness in the form of venom. Every vampire has a certain amount of venom in them, and they can only give away so much before they die. Xehanort didn't know that, and he just kept making more and more vampires."

"These rouge vampires wouldn't stop killing or making new vampires, they caused total destruction."

"They almost caused an end to the human race until, one day, when 3 humans discovered what was going on. They went on a mission and killed as many of our kind as they could. Their names were Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. They eventually brought an end to Xehanorts rule and what you humans call 'The Dark ages', but at the cost of their own lives. "Xemnas paused again. "Some vampires lived and since then we have lived in secret, behind the scenes but always there."

Everyone paused and looked at him.

"That's nice and all, but that still doesn't answer our question." Saïx said.

"Oh, which is?"

"Why are we here for the fiftieth time!" Saïx yelled.

"Hehe oh right, sorry. Well there's a couple of catches along with being a vampire, you have to find your mate." Xemnas said awkwardly.

"Oh God…" Emi said. "You don't mean…"

"Unfortunately yes I do. You guys and gals are the mates of the following guys: Sora and Kairi, Roxas and Xion, Saïx and myself, and Zexion and Emi."

"There are a few things that you need to know that come along with being mates. The tattoos on your necks are a symbol of who you belong to. The colors are your mate's eye color. Your body will start to change, become quicker and more efficient. You'll be able to do more and more. Everything depends on what your body is capable of and your mental state. You will have to get familiars, which I assume you all know what that means, "He received nods. "Good, finally this is a requirement for everyone, you have to go through trials to make sure your even worth keeping."

"I need to sit down…"Kairi muttered. She sat down heavily on the ground.

"This is a bit overwhelming isn't it?" Xemnas asked himself.

"Ya think?" Xion said. She received a glare from Xemnas himself but she just smiled at him.

"I get that, I get that." Xemnas sighed. "Look I know that it's a lot to take in but you have to understand this is difficult for us to."

"How so? Were the ones getting taken from our homes and families so we can be 'mates' to you guys? Were the ones thrust into this knew situation without anything to lean on. Were the ones that are thrown into here and are getting told something so ridiculous and are expected to believe it!" Emi finally reached a yell at the end of her rant.

It finally seemed to sink in for everyone what kind of situation they were and for the vampires, what their mates were going through.

"Look we don't have all the answers, we don't have everything that you wanted from life or who you could have possibly hoped to be, we can just hope that you will be happy here." Zexion said

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So tell me what did you think!

Read and Review please it means so much and keeps the story going!

Thanks for reading!**  
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	4. Exhaustion

Another chapter!

A gigantic shout out to** Roxy Mccartney **and **EragonLoverLovesYou **for giving me my very first reviews on this story! Thank you!

Enjoy!~**

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_Chapter 4: Exhaustion_

_You would not believe your eyes_  
_If ten million fireflies_  
_Lit up the world as I fell asleep_

_-Owl City  
_

Everyone sat down alongside Kairi. They all sighed, leaning against the walls and giant chairs, to exhausted to keep standing. Emi sat next to Namine, with Namine resting against Emi. Kairi and Namine both looked like they were going to cry, but Xion, Saïx, and Emi remained strong, keeping their faces neutral and clear. If anything everyone looked tired and ready to fall asleep right there.

"I think it's time for you guys to go to bed." Xemnas spoke up, after it became obvious that Namine was falling asleep.

Everyone slowly got up, too tired to question anything or try to think of what's happening. Emi got up and as she did she picked Namine up, allowing Namine to continue sleeping uninterrupted. Riku came up to take Namine away from her. He held his arms out to take Namine.

"Your Riku right?" Emi asked. Riku nodded.

"Alright well I have to give you a warning. Listen because you're never going to get this again. If you ever hurt my sister in any way I will personally make sure that you will never see life again. If you ever hurt her you will regret it for the rest of your miserable vampire life." Emi said it so calmly, in a way that became eerie. It was all serious, leaving no room for doubt that if Riku did that he would pay.

She then handed Namine to Riku.

Sora quickly filled in the awkward silence. "So you have to share a room for your mate, until we can arrange for other rooms, as seeing that you guys showing up was unexpected."

Grumbling followed each statement as people started to slowly leave. Saïx left following Xemnas, Kairi had to be held up by Sora, and Xion walked proudly trying to hide her tiredness. Riku left with Namine still asleep in his arms, and as he walked out Emi shot him a look of 'heed my warning'. Finally only Zexion and Emi were left. She got up and walked towards him.

"Are you okay?" Zexion asked.

"Yes, it's…...it's just a lot to take in." she said, a strain of exhaustion entered her voice at the end of her sentence.

Zexion started walking towards his room. This time Emi walked alongside him, instead of behind him. Once again there were so many twists and turns that she got lost, and had to rely on Zexion. She felt her eyes starting to grow heavier even as she walked. She had to place her hand on the wall, just to keep herself steady. Zexion noticed, but didn't say anything, trying to let her retain something after it seemed like everything was taken away. Emi felt her eyes grow heavier and knew that this time she wouldn't be able to raise them back up.

"Zex…" she tried to say his name, but couldn't get it out. She just felt herself drifting off. As her eyes closed, the last thing she saw was the walls rushing past her.

Before she hit the ground, Emi felt herself getting caught by a pair of arms.

"Got you." Zexion said.

Emi finally let herself fall into sleep.

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In the next chapter Emi meets everyone. That's going to be interesting to say the least...

Please tell me what you thought! I love any review and criticism is welcomed!

I don't own Square Enix...I wish i did...**  
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	5. Everyone Else

Hey everyone this chapter was so long that I couldnt finish it yesterday

Dedicated to my boyfriend Josh who always knows exactly what to say

Enjoy!~

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_Chapter 5: Everyone Else_

_Cause every choice is a new mistake _  
_Every turn every step I take _  
_To escape from your memory _  
_Seems impossible for me_

_-Janet Leon  
_

Emi awoke through layers of sleep. Her mind making way through dense layers of fog, she slowly lost sight of unconsciousness and became more and more aware of her surroundings. Emi was laying on something soft. As more layers of fog lifted from her mind she that she was not only laying on something soft but she was under something to. With the final few layers disappearing fast, Emi decided that she was probably lying on a bed. She slowly sat up, the covers settling around her. She rubbed her eyes, having them quickly adjust to the dark room. Emi stretched out her arms, working out the kinks from sleeping.

Her mind went back to what happened yesterday. It hadn't been a dream, but it still seemed way too unreal. She sat and pondered over what was said, noting that just for a little while she was alone. Emi recognized the room; it was the same one she had been taken too yesterday with Zexion. She looked around to see if he was here but he wasn't. The rain had stopped, and with no clock or calendar she had no idea how long she had been asleep. It was still as dark as night outside.

Emi leaned against the pillows, not wanting to get up. She looked next to her to see a nightstand, with a piece of paper on it. Out of curiosity, Emi picked it up. It had her name on it.

_Dear Emi, _

_I didn't want to wake you up but I had to leave. I will be back in a little while so don't fret._

_Sincerely,_

_Zexion _

Emi rolled her eyes at the 'don't fret' part, but she put the note back on the nightstand. She snuggled back into the blankets, relaxing. With a slight smile on her lips she let her mind wander until she was just dozing. Just when she was about to fall back into sleep, she heard the door open. Emi rolled over onto her side, so that she was facing the door.

Zexion walked in, heaving a sigh as he did so. He closed the door quietly behind him and walked inside. He placed a thick book that he had under his arm on the desk and turned to face Emi.

"You're awake." He said. He moved and sat over on the other side of the bed, facing Emi.

"Ya, I woke up a while ago." She said. She sat up. "How long was I asleep?"

Zexion leaned against the headboard. "You've been asleep for a day and a half." He said calmly.

"What? A day and a half?" Emi asked in shock. Zexion nodded.

"Hey before you freak out its normal for the human to sleep for a really long time after they first get bit. You're actually the very first of your friends to wake up." He said in an effort to calm Emi from hyperventilating. She slowly calmed down. After a couple of minutes of slowly breathing, Emi calmed down enough to ask her next question.

"What is supposed to happen now?" She asked.

Zexion thought for a second. "Well I guess the next thing to do is it introduce you to everyone else that lives here." He finally said.

"There's more people here?"

"Correction, more vampires." He stated.

Emi stared at Zexion for a long second before putting her head in her hands.

_I don't know how many more surprises I can take…_ she thought.

-X-X-X-X-

Zexion and Emi walked through another pathway of endless hallways. Just like before Emi got lost and had to rely on Zexion to lead her to the right place. After countless twists and turns they finally arrived at another doorway. This doorway wasn't nearly as big as the other doorway was, but looked like just another doorway. It came to the normal height and was white, just like everything else in this place. Zexion slowly pushed the door open.

"Hey everyone Emi woke up." He said.

Zexion took a couple steps forward, but Emi hung back, suddenly feeling self-conscious. Zexion walked through the doorway, and motioned for Emi to follow him, where she first got her glimpse of everyone else.

People sat littered across the room. Tables and chairs sat evenly spaced in the room, a table on each side of the room with chairs surrounding it. There was a pathway through the middle. The room made a half circle, and where the wall curved it was made entirely of glass. Emi finally looked at the people sitting around the room.

A poker game was going on at one table, three men were sitting around it but they had paused their game to see what Emi looked like. At the other two men sat at the table, just talking. They had also stopped talking to look at Zexion and Emi. Zexion motioned Emi to follow as he walked toward the table with the poker game.

As they made their way over, Emi noticed their appearance. They all wore cloaks like the one Zexion was wearing. One man had his hair pulled back into a ponytail; it was black with silver streaks in it. He wore an eye patch over his right eye, and on his left check a scar cut that cut right to the bottom corner of his jaw. The man next to him was greatly built, extremely muscled. He had dread locks, tied back into a loose ponytail; a few loose strands fell casually into his face. Dread lock man had humongous side burns, almost reaching to his nose. Finally there was one other guy there, a man with long blonde hair. It reached almost his waist and he had sharp facial features.

"Emi, this is Xigbar, Xaldin, and Vexen." Zexion said. He pointed to each man as he talked.

"Hello." She said politely, nodding her head at each of them.

Xigbar got up. "It nice to meet you." He extended his hand.

Emi shook her head. "You'll understand if I say that I have a problem with touching." She said.

"Of course." Xigbar smoothly pulled back his hand. He sat back down and turned back to the poker game.

"Alright, who looked at my cards?" he said. All his cards were facing up, instead of down. He received sly smiles from Xaldin and Vexen.

"We don't know what you're talking about" they said in unison. Everyone knew that they both did it.

"Ya, ya you lot of liars…" Xigbar mumbled on to himself, muttering about how he hated this whole house of liars.

Zexion and Emi moved over to the other side of the room, where the two guys were talking. One was another extremely tall and very well-muscled, while the other was smaller. The taller one wasn't saying a word, just listening to his friend prattle on about inconsiderate friends. The one who kept talking had blonde hair to but it was much, much shorter and he had piercings in his ears.

"Those stupid fools, they're not respecting the cards at all…" he stopped when he saw Zexion walking up with Emi.

"Well, well what do we have here? Zexion who is this lass?" He asked.

"My name is Emi." She said, before Zexion could.

"I'm Luxord, and my silent friend here is Lexaeus. It's nice to meet you." Emi nodded her head at Lexaeus, then turned back to Luxord.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what?"

"Are you really British?" She received a blank stare from Luxord, while Zexion and Lexaeus started laughing. Emi covered her mouth in an attempt to hold back the laughter.

"Ha ha funny, but yes I am actually British." Luxord calmly replied.

They talked for a while and Lexaeus even joined in on the conversation for his opinion. It was nice and relaxing, just what Emi wanted to help her ignore the sudden changes to her life. After an hour Emi turned back to Zexion.

"Is there anyone else I need to meet?"

"The only person left is Axel. I don't know where he is right now." Zexion answered.

"Someone looking for me?" a voice behind them said. Zexion turned around to see Axel standing there.

"Ah yes I was. Axel this is Emi."

Axel took a step forward, and Emi slowly turned from where she was sitting to face him. Her arms were wrapped around her stomach, her eyes had widened slightly. Slowly she stood up to face him.

"Hello." She said in a small voice. Axel extended his hand. "I don't touch."

The room had gotten quieter, noting the sudden change in atmosphere. Everyone slowly looked at Emi and Axel.

"I have to go." Emi made an effort to walk past him, but, quick as a snake, he grabbed her arm.

"Leaving so soon? We barely got to talk." The last sentence he whispered in her ear, only letting her hear.

As soon as he grabbed her arm, Emi pulled the switchblade out of her pocket. She pressed it against his throat. When the metal touched his skin, Axel summoned his chakram and pressed one against her side. It easily cut through the fabric of her shirt, slicing at her skin.

"Let go of me" She hissed.

"Do you really think that you will be able to do damage with that kids toy?" Axel hissed back.

Emi smirked, "I don't need to cause damage, I know that you can die somehow and the fact that you can die means I will find that way. Now let go of me unless you want to lose your sorry miserable vampire life."

Axel and Emi stared at one another, Axel trying to see if she was bluffing, and Emi holding her ground. Finally Axel let go of her and his chakram disappeared into darkness. Emi slowly took back her knife, holding it at her side. She took a step back.

Axel leaned in to whisper in her ear again. "Don't worry, I'll be back, and we'll have loads of fun, just like before, right Emi?"

* * *

So what is this that Axel and Emi share...

You'll find out...later..

Review please!

I dont own Square Enix


	6. Seeing the Moon

sorry for the late chapter update but here it is!

* * *

_Chapter 6:Seeing the Moon  
_

_"Life can either be accepted or changed. If it not accepted, it must be changed. If it cannot be changed, then it must be accepted."  
_

_-Author Unknown  
_

Axel casually strolled out. He didn't hurry, he didn't stop, he just casually walked out of the room, like he hadn't done anything. Emi had just stood there, holding her side to stop the trickle of blood. As the trickle of blood flow stopped, Emi took a couple of deep breathes and slowly started walking over to the glass windows. When she got there she sat on the ground, leaned her side against the window and brought her knees to her chest. Still holding her side she wrapped her other arm around her knees and stared out the window.

Everyone else seemed to be in shock. Everyone either stared at Axel walking away or they stared at Emi with identical looks of confusion. Zexion stared first at Axel walking away, then as soon as he saw Emi walking he stared at her. After a second of staring, Zexion slowly moved over to where Emi was. He sat down next to her.

They just sat there for a couple of minutes. Emi had stopped bleeding and now both of her arms were wrapped around her knees.

"Emi what happened back there?" He finally asked.

"It was nothing." She said "It's none of your business." She whispered

"None of my business? How is it none of my business?" his voice went up, but he tried to remain calm.

"It's my business not yours." Emi wouldn't look at him; she just kept staring out the window.

"Why don't you actually look at me and explain to me how it's none of my business?" He moved in front of her line of vision as he spoke the words, making her look at him. Emi glared at him.

"Okay it's my past, my business and I'm not going to tell you anything. Excuse me for not wanting to tell someone that I met only two days ago every little detail about my past. Why don't you tell me everything that ever haunts you, and then I'll tell you about what just happened." She spat the last part out, enough venom in it to kill someone.

Zexion couldn't argue with her logic, and he realized that maybe this was a touchy subject for her. He settled down next to her, sitting against the glass window. Emi went back to staring out the window. He stared at her, trying to take in her body language or anything to tell him what she was thinking. He didn't get anything.

"Will you please stop staring at me?" It snapped Zexion out of his train of thought. He hadn't realized how long he had been staring.

"Sorry." He muttered.

Minutes crawled by. Zexion wanted to say something, but he just couldn't. something told him to wait. Emi finally spoke.

"Zexion, what's with the moon?" she asked.

The moon hung in the sky, in a perfect heart shape. It looked exactly like the regular moon, except its shape was in a heart. It was extremely large, like someone had pulled it forward towards the Earth.

"That is the moons true form. See when Xehanort was first created he discovered the moon was different. That night he was visited by the goddess Selene. Humans are governed by the sun, it represents light. Vampires are governed by the moon, it represents the night. Selene is the moon goddess, and she looks after us all. When mates are found, they get to see the moons true form." He explained. Emi nodded and then went back to looking at the moon.

"When I was little I loved the moon. I would always stay up late just to look at the moon. There was always something about it that was so enticing." She said after a pause.

Time went by again, and neither of them said a word. They just sat there as Emi looked at the moon, and Zexion stared at her.

The other people in the room were shocked by the events that happened. Nobody had moved after a while, but finally they started talking again. Everyone had moved over to one table and started talking about what happened.

"Alright what the hell just happened?" Xigbar was the first to speak up. Everyone shrugged. "Are you going to tell me that nobody has a clue?" he said, exasperated.

"Basically." Vexen said.

They discussed theories for a while, most of the time ending in dead ends. Finally Lexaeus spoke up.

"She's been hurt." He said calmly.

"What?" Everyone spoke at once.

"Well isn't it obvious?" he received blank stares. "She has obviously been hurt, by either Axel or someone that looks really close to Axel. You could see it in her eyes when Axel grabbed her."

"How would Axel do that? He's been with us for years." Xaldin asked.

Lexaeus shrugged. "Sure he has been with us for years but for a while, he was rouge, so there might be our answer."

Everyone looked at each other, and then they slowly all turned to look at where Emi and Zexion were sitting.

"That poor girl." Luxord said.

-X-X-X-X-

Hours passed, and Emi slowly went and joined the others. They stopped talking about what had happened after Luxords comment and turned back to playing cards. They didn't ask her what had happened or what's was wrong. They just pretended like it hadn't happened. Emi was grateful for that. They all sat there and played cards, until they heard the door open.

Slowly one by one Riku and Namine walked I, followed by Sora and Kairi, then Xion and Roxas. Emi went and talked to them, and said hello to her sister. Everyone got introduced to everyone else, and they all sat down to play cards. Except for Emi and Namine. Those two went over to the other couches and talked for a while, but eventually the joined the rest of the group playing cards. Axel didn't come back, and eventually everyone just seemed to be waiting for Xemnas and Saïx to show up. Emi met Sora, Roxas and Riku on a better level.

"So let me get this straight, Sora and Roxas were twin brothers, and Riku was Sora's best friend. Sora and Roxas were turned at the same time, and it was only a year later that Riku was turned to right. But he wasn't turned by Sora or Riku right?" She got nods. "Well you know that becomes very confusing very fast."

They laughed. "Yes we know but that's how it happened." Riku said.

They talked for a while longer. She asked more questions and they asked their own. They didn't know that Namine was her sister or that Xion and Kairi were cousins. Emi learned that Riku was quieter and that Sora and Roxas were like day and night. Sora was all energetic, while Roxas was more self-aware. It was almost like Xion and Kairi. Kairi was outgoing while Xion was more sullen and quiet.

Everyone talked, and they all played poker. Luxord won every time. Luckily no one had bet any money. He said it was the luck of the cards but really after winning twenty times in a row everyone knew he was cheating. After he won yet again after playing for a couple more hours, everyone quit.

"Oh come one ladies and gents, you gonna quit just like that?"

"YES" Everyone yelled.

The door opened right after they said that. It was Xemnas and Saïx. They walked in and Saïx got introduced to everyone there that he hadn't already met. Xemnas waited until everyone got introduced to each other and Saïx was back at his side before he spoke.

"Tomorrow everyone can go home and gather their belongings. They can say goodbye to their families. After that you will live with us for the rest of your lives." He announced, like it wasn't a big deal.

"So were just expected to uproot ourselves and move here because you said so?" Xion asked bitterly.

"Yes that is exactly what I'm expecting. This isn't something that will change because you want it to. This is going to be your life now." With that last line, Xemnas walked out with Saïx by his side.

Everyone looked at each other.

"Well isn't this just peachy." Xion said

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Well here it is all finished! next chapter coming soon!

this took me 3 hours to write...

i dont own square enix...


	7. Visiting Home

Hey everyone another chapter! Well if you havent noticed my schedual is to update once every week, and hopefully more if i have time.

Enjoy!~

* * *

_Chapter 7: Visiting Home  
_

_If you're going through hell, keep going._

_-Winston Churchill_

Emi and her friends had converged onto the couches on the other side of the room after Xemnas' announcement. They didn't talk much, they just leaned on each other for support and they took comfort in each other's presence. The others watched from the other half of the room, staying quiet as well. No one seemed to want to talk but the silence was like a weight pressing down on all of them. Kairi was crying softly while Xion was comforting her. Emi held Namine in her arms and was comforting her as well.

It was like that for hours, the entire room covered in silence. Nobody wanted to move, nobody wanted to speak. They all just sat there in silence while Kairi cried herself to sleep and Namine fell asleep on Emi. Finally Emi and Xion were the only ones awake, and Xion's willpower was starting to fade. Emi whispered for her to fall asleep, she nodded and laid down on the couch. Emi stayed awake, ignoring her own tiredness to watch over her friends to make sure they were safe while they slept.

Hours passed by quickly for everyone. Still, though, daylight didn't appear. It remained dark outside, and the moon still hung oppressively in the sky. Emi didn't move out of her place once, and while some of the others did stir a little they stayed asleep. Finally people did start to wake up. No one else dared to come over as Kairi, Xion and Namine woke up; they all waited for them to start moving around. Kairi immediately started to complain about hunger, which made Xion and Namine hungry as well. They all hadn't eaten for almost four days.

After they ate a huge big breakfast, it was time to go to their homes. No one really wanted to but they needed to say their goodbyes and gather some things they need. It was when they had to go that they learned about another thing that vampires could do. They could emerge portals of darkness to travel anywhere they had been. Emi and everyone else stared at the portal.

"So were just expected to go through there and be just fine and dandy?" Xion asked.

They all nodded. One by one Emi and her friends walked through the portal, with Kairi going first and Emi going through last. There was only darkness for a second or to, not enough time for anyone to panic, and a sensation of floating. Then they arrived at the clearing where they watched the fireworks.

"Alright everyone go with their mate, go to your house say good bye and be back here within two hours." Xemnas said. He had arrived on his own with Saïx. With that he let Saïx lead the way as he walked out.

Kairi and Xion walked off in the same direction, they lived really close not only to the clearing but they also lived right near each other. Sora and Roxas followed a couple steps behind them. Namine and Emi on the other hand walked over in a different direction, near the parking lot. It wasn't day here, even by regular time, and judging from how cold it was it was most likely about one in the morning.

They reached their destination. In front of Emi and Namine was a motorcycle. They brushed some of the leaves off of it and got on. Namine put her helmet on, and so did Emi. Riku and Zexion just stared.

"We live far and were both assuming that you two can run. Am I right?" Namine asked.

They nodded. "Good, now try to keep up." Emi said as she started her motorcycle up and sped away. Riku and Zexion smirked at each other.

"Race you." Riku said as they zoomed after the two girls.

Emi sped through the city streets, not having to check that Zexion and Riku were behind them, she knew they would follow. Slowly they got out of the city and emerged onto the more rural area. The road panned out and became even. The cars that were left on the road disappeared. Soon it was only the purr of Emi's motorcycle that cut through the night. They finally arrived at Namine's and Emi's house. It looked more like an office building than a house.

Emi cut the engine and got off the bike, Namine following her. They didn't go the way into the house that you would think, they went around the side. They went and looked around the walls of the house and finally stopped near the back. Zexion and Riku had followed them all this way.

"Namine can you see if it's open?" Emi whispered. Namine nodded. "Yes its open." She looked at Emi.

"Ready?" Emi asked. Namine nodded.

In a flash of movement, Namine was sailing through the air. Before she started coming back down though, she grabbed onto a window sill and pulled herself up. Emi jumped up and grabbed the window sill and pulled herself in as well. The boys stared at them from the ground, looking at the space from the ground to the window sill. It was at least 3 stories.

They waited and soon they heard a noise. A bag came flying out of the window. Riku caught it. Then Emi jumped out of the window, she landed easily on the ground. Then she looked back up. Namine jumped out of the window when she saw that Emi was standing. Emi caught her easily.

Namine took her bag from Riku, smiling at him. Then she walked over to where Emi had moved to. She looked up at her own window. Once again she jumped up and grabbed onto the window sill, pulling herself up she moved quickly in her room.

As they waited on the ground they could hear her just barely moving around. Namine looked worried about how much noise there was, but she relaxed when Emi's bag fell out of the window. Zexion caught it effortlessly. There was more noise of movement, then all of the sudden voices. Namine looked like she was going to have a panic attack and the volume increased from talking to shouting.

For just a second then there was one more noise.

The sound of a gunshot rang through the air.

* * *

Yes, i wrote a cliffhanger! i couldnt help myself!

Read and Review it means a lot!


	8. Leaving Home

I couldn't leave you guys hanging for long...it just seemed to mean. So here's the next chapter. I forgot to say something in the last chapter but that is always how I imagined the portals of darkness. That you would go through them, it would be pitch black for about two seconds and it was like you were floating.

Enjoy!~

* * *

_Chapter 8: Leaving Home_

_We're safe for the time being_

_We are safe for the time being_

_-_ _Mason Proper_

Everyone looked up at the window. The sound of the gunshot still rang through the air. As it faded, Namine, Zexion and Riku stared up at the window trying to see if Emi was coming down. The seconds were like hours, the night was completely silent. Zexion looked like he was going to jump up there to see if everything was alright, when there were more noises. The noises sounded like a struggle. Zexion prepared himself to jump when Emi came flying out of the window. She landed roughly on the ground clutching her left shoulder. She quickly got up, and even in the dark everyone could see the blood.

Emi grabbed her bag that Zexion had dropped on the ground with her good arm and started walking back to her motor cycle. They followed her and Zexion had to steady her a few times to make sure she didn't fall. Emi and Namine got onto her motorbike and started it up. As they did a man came out of the building, yelling something. As he got near them though, Emi drove her bike away, leaving him in the dust.

It seemed to take a longer time. Emi drove steadily, but she had to drive slower. When they arrived at the clearing, they were the first ones to arrive back. Emi parked her bike and sat down. Under the street light they could clearly see her wounds.

She was bleeding from a cut on her head. While it was still bleeding, that wasn't the problem. Emi had a bullet in her shoulder. It was still bleeding, but not as profusely as the one on her head. Namine sat down in front of her to help her. Namine reached into the bag and got out medical supplies. While she bandaged her head, Emi began working on her shoulder. She had to get the bullet out unless she wanted to risk an infection.

Emi pulled out a pair of tweezers and took her shirt off. The boys looked away in respect. Emi knew where the bullet was and easily took it out. As it fell to the ground he shoulder started bleeding again. She bandages it easily and put on a new shirt. The boys turned around as Emi tested her arm to see if she lost any movement in it. Luckily it had just been a flesh wound.

Zexion and Riku looked at each other, neither one wanting to ask about what happened but they knew that they had to.

"Hey, um, what just happened?" Riku spoke up.

Emi and Namine stared at him. "You have to be more specific." Emi said.

"Okay, what happened back there when Emi went up by herself?" he asked. This time Emi and Namine looked at each other instead.

"Our father woke up because I made to much noise, we got into an argument when I said I was leaving and he shot me. When I was on the ground he came up and I attacked him. That's when I got the cut on my head. The rest was basically what happened when I jumped out of the window." Emi stated.

Zexion and Riku looked at each other again. "Your father did that to you?" They asked. Namine and Emi nodded.

"Did he always do things like that?" Again the girls nodded.

"For as long as we can remember." They both said.

Zexion and Riku both looked pissed off. While they sat there, they wondered how a father could do that to his children, why he was doing it and how these girls had lived through it. While other people began arriving Riku and Zexion realized that they just got another piece to the puzzle of Emi and Namine's past.

While the two boys were lost in thought, Kairi and Xion arrived back at the clearing, both with tear stained faces. Roxas and Sora followed behind them, looking very guilty. After those two arrived they didn't bother to wait for Saïx and Xemnas, they just all decided to leave back to the castle. Everyone was exhausted and just wanted to go and sleep.

Kairi and Xion did notice the bandages on Emi but they didn't have to ask, they already knew what had probably happened. Everyone went to their separate rooms with their mates and quickly went to sleep. Everyone except Emi.

Emi sat on the bed, her hand resting on her shoulder. Zexion sat on the other side of the bed and just watched her. She felt him staring but chose to ignore it.

"What happens now?" she asked.

"Now you go through training, then a week from tomorrow you go through a trial to make sure you are worth keeping." He said.

Emi nodded. Slowly she laid back down onto the bed and fell gently into sleep.

* * *

and yes you got another piece to the puzzle about Emi's past, just try to figure it out. I already know everything but then again I am the writer so good luck but it will be revealed eventually.

Read and Review please!


	9. Let the Training Begin

HA AFTER OVER A FREAKING WEEK OF NOT BEING ABLE TO UPDATE I AM ABLE TO! SO TAKE THAT !

Sorry about that i just had to say it. But yea i did find a way to get around the "error type 2".

A BIG THANKS AND A HUGE ROUND OF APPLAUSE TO Maisuki-chan FOR TELLING ME HOW TO UPDATE HER STORY SO I COULD THEN COPY THE METHOD!

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO HERE IS THE LONG AWAITED CHAPTER 9!

* * *

_Chapter 9: Let the Training Begin  
_

_What are we fightin' for?  
What are we fightin' for?_

_-Live_

Emi woke with a start, a scream at her lips. Holding it back she look quickly sat up and tried to remember what she was going on. The room was dark and she almost instantly felt better remembering where she was. Her fear died down and she settled down against the pillows. Looking next to her, she saw Zexion lying next to her. He was still asleep her sudden movement hadn't caused even a stir.

He laid on top of the covers, on his side with his legs slightly bent. His arms were right against his chest, hands right next to his throat. Emi could see the side of his face that was normally covered by his bangs. Out of curiosity Emi brushed his bangs back and looked more clearly at him. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, like he couldn't actually hurt a fly when actually, Emi knew he could kill people easily.

Suddenly her body seeming to move on its own, she scooted closer to him and brought her face closer to his. She slowly moved her hand across his cheek, relishing in its smoothness. Moving even slower and getting even closer. Emi lowered her lips onto his. Those two seconds that it did last seem to last forever but, all of the sudden she felt him stir, just a little. Emi jumped back into her original spot, cheeks blushing a light pink. As she watched, Zexion moved a little more but then settled down again.

Emi laid back against the pillows. She knew that it was to early to be awake and that she should at least try to go back to sleep. After a couple of minutes she felt herself drifting off but one thought plagued her mind.

_I don't understand why I like him so much. Why do I trust him? He's just a man, in the end he'll use me and hurt me to._

-X-X-X-X-

Hours passed by without notice. Eventually Zexion woke up and looked at the time. It was eleven am. Way too late for normal people to be sleeping in. Vampires had no use for time, but Zexion knew that Emi would like to keep her schedule the same, so he tried.

Zexion looked next to him to see Emi buried underneath the covers, sound asleep. As gently as he could he nudged her awake and tried to get her to stay awake. A harder task than what he was used to but then again he used to be tasked with getting Vexen out of bed. Which was no laughing matter. Eventually though she did wake up.

Emi went straight to the bathroom and took a shower. Zexion remembered that she had been here for almost five days now and figured she would be in there for a while. He changed and left, heading down to see everyone else.

Emi emerged from the shower feeling better than ever. She finally felt refreshed and clean. Wrapping a towel around herself she got out of the bathroom and got dressed from the clothes that she brought. Drying her hair with a towel, she heard a knock at the door. There was Namine and Riku.

The two had come to get Emi to take her to get some breakfast. She left them at the doorway and went back to get switchblade. Putting it in her pocket, she walked out with Riku and Namine. They went down and ate breakfast and then headed down to the training room. Everyone else was there waiting for them, including Zexion. When they arrived the training began.

"Alright, the first thing that you need to learn for the most basic combat is to summon a weapon. Every mate and vampire can summon a weapon; it's the basic defense." Xemnas started. As he talked, he summoned his own weapon. One after another everyone else summoned their weapon.

Sora, Roxas and Riku had these basically enlarged keys. Each one was a different design but Roxas was the only one that has two. Xigbar had two guns that looked like they shot arrows. Xaldin had six spears. Vexen had a shield. Axel had chakram. Luxord had cards and Lexaeus had what looked like an axe. Zexion held a book in his hands. Finally Xemnas had light sabers.

"Light sabers?" Xion asked skeptically when she saw them. She started laughing and then everyone else started joining in. Xemnas glared at them.

"Shut up they are not light sabers, they are Ethereal Blades." He crossed his arms across his chest and tried to look serious, but all it did was cause people to laugh more.

"Alright, alright I get it my Ethereal Blades are funny. Hardy-har-har. Now pay attention. The only way that a weapon first appears is during a battle. Everyone has to battle someone to discover their weapon. Pick someone that isn't your mate. Now pair off." He said.

Xemnas stood to the side as everyone paired up. Saïx was paired with Lexaeus, Kairi with Xigbar, Xion with Xaldin, Namine with Luxord, and Emi with Roxas. Battles commenced. Since none of them had weapons yet, it mainly consisted of trying to doge and running. Finally though when backed into a corner they did manage to summon their weapons.

Kairi only got her weapon after she was literally backed into the corner of the room. Right when Xigbar was about to shoot her with his gun, her weapon appeared and blocked it. Sora had to be taken out of the room a while ago, he kept trying to intervene. Her weapon was like Sora's, what they called a keyblade. Its teeth were made out of flowers, the handle had one side of an ocean wave and the other was a vine. The chain had a star shaped fruit on it. She called it '_Destiny's Embrace_'.

Xion was the next one to get her weapon. It was a keyblade exactly like Sora's with a silver neck and teeth and a golden handle. Xion didn't get the chance to block with her weapon though; Xaldin had to actually give her a cut on the arm to get her weapon to appear.

Saïx was next. Lexaeus kept him on his toes the entire time and when Saïx couldn't even get a breather to try to keep up he started to get angry. When Saïx reached his berserker mode his weapon appeared in his hands. It was a giant double bladed claymore. It was colored with blues and yellows and stood as tall as Saïx was.

Namine was the next one to get her weapon. As Luxord started sending cards after her she dodged easily. It took all of Emi's self-control not to go and help her sister. Finally though when a card came dangerously close to her face, Namine's arms went up to protect her and her weapon appeared. It was a notebook. Her sketchbook, to be more specific. Pages came out and wrapped around Luxord, preventing his use of cards.

Emi was the final one to summon her weapon. The only problem was that no matter what she did, apparently her weapon just did not want to summon. She wore Roxas down; he eventually just didn't have the strength to chase her and try to hit her. Xaldin tried next and he got close to hitting her a few times but still nothing. It went on like this until finally only Xemnas and Axel were left. Xemnas was the one who decided to just end this. Not even trying to chase after her he did his most powerful attack.

The entire room went dark. Hundreds of his Ethereal Blades were around Emi. All at once they started firing themselves at her. She dodged and dodged again and couldn't stop. From outside all people could hear was the sound of his blades striking the ground. Xemnas was concentrating but everyone else just looked worried. Especially Zexion.

Finally as the dust settled Emi stood there with weapon in hand, barely a scratch on her besides a cut on her arm. In her hands she held two longs blades. One held lightly in each hand, the blades looked like they were made of ice. They handle fit into her palm perfectly.

"Now that we got that out of the was time to teach you guys the basics of fighting." Xemnas said.

* * *

Well there you guys go.

READ AND REVIEW IT MEANS A LOT


	10. Magic

Another chapter well this one took longer to type than I expected but in the next chapter all abilities will be outlines

Enjoy~

* * *

_Chapter 10: Magic_

_Anything can happen, child, ANYTHING can be._

_- Shel Silverstein _

Training had commenced for the rest of the day. Everyone learned the basics of fighting, how to defend, strike and dodge properly. Emi had already taught herself how to do most of the things that Xemnas was teaching, so instead she worked on her own skills and worked on how to summon her weapon easier and even when it was thrown at a distance, something no one else was able to do.

Namine had to work with Zexion; he was the only person that had a weapon similar to hers. She could keep up with him easily; he was extremely patient with her, explaining everything in detail that she could understand. She named her sketchbook _memoria oblivione, _which means forgotten memories in Latin. She worked well with Zexion, and soon she knew how to make pages fly out, how to trap people in the pages, and how to enlarge its size.

Xion's fighting style was almost exactly like Roxas'. She named her own keyblade a simple name, just Kingdom Key. It was the same name that Sora had for his own keyblade and she names it after his because they were almost exactly the same. Xion had a much easier time fighting than Roxas seemed to have. She was able to move gracefully with every movement she made. Kairi was graceful to, but she was more awkward than Xion. While Xion was able to adjust quickly, Kairi looked like she didn't belong on a battlefield at all. She didn't know what to do and seemed like she really didn't want to fight at all. Kairi didn't really want to hit people with her keyblade; instead she mainly blocked and dodged, wearing out her opponent.

Saïx had an easy time adjusting to his weapon. He could swing it around like it weighed nothing but in reality no one else could pick it up besides himself and Lexaeus. He called it The Lunatic and worked with it easily. Lexaeus taught him the best ways for fighting with a heavy weapon and how to swing it around without losing his balance.

By lunch everyone had learned the basics. As they took a break for lunch everyone dismissed their weapons and took a well-deserved break. When lunch was over they were brought right back into training but Xemnas wanted to teach them something new.

"Since everyone is excelling so fast what would have been tomorrow's lesson will be taught today." He said.

"It's time for all of you to learn magic." Xemnas said.

Everyone had faced enough surprises to be totally shocked, but a small wave of surprise did go through the room. It was just the thought. Magic. _Magic._ They would be learning about magic. Xemnas just stood there like he just announced what the weather was going to be tomorrow. He walked into the middle of the training room.

"Every vampire can control one element. Even with the elements there are other types of magic. There are three types, elemental, white and black magic. The element that a vampire controls can be very unique to a person and differs from elemental magic. Elemental magic is just the elements. The element that a vampire controls can be almost everything. For instance Luxord controls time. White magic is mainly healing and boosting effects. A person excelled in white magic can heal anyone no matter how close they are to death. Black magic is basically the opposite of white magic, its spells that inhibit others and their abilities. Finally elemental magic is the use or control of an element." Finishing up this rant Xemnas started up on a new one.

"Every mate gets their own element. Sometimes it's the same as their mate but you never really know it all depends on the person. Also normally people excel in either white or dark magic but there are some people who can do both. When it comes to elemental magic normally if you excel in one area then another area won't be as strong. For example if you excel in water then you won't be very good at dealing with fire." He finished up. "Since your specific element can be the same as your mate then pair off with your mate. "

Everyone moved into pairs, and spread across the large room. Zexion and Emi moved to the very back of the room. Kairi and Sora were in one corner while Namine and Riku were in in the other corner. Xion and Roxas were in the middle of the room. Zexion and Emi sat down against the wall. Zexion started talking about his element.

"I can control illusions. My weapon is a Lexicon and I call it _Book of Retribution._ It helps me weave illusions…" He went on about this for a while and eventually Emi just stopped paying attention. Instead she looked at everyone else.

Sora and Kairi seemed to be having fun. They sat side by side as Sora explained how to wield his element. Kairi was catching on quickly, by Sora's behavior. Xion and Roxas were doing the exact same thing but Roxas seemed to be more critical. Xion was obviously trying her best and Roxas was encouraging the best that he could without being too nice. Saïx and Xemnas seemed to be having trouble but Emi just glanced her eyes over them. Riku and Namine on the other hand, looked like they were having some trouble. Riku was doing his magic, but Namine just couldn't seem to do it. Namine was trying but nothing was happening.

"Emi are you listening to me?" Zexion irritable asked.

"No," she said instantly. He let out an exasperated sigh.

"Fine since you don't want to listen let's just start." He held is palm out in front of himself, face up. One second there was nothing there and then suddenly the forms of tiny two figures appeared. One was a man and another was a woman. They danced across his palm, moving elegantly in a constant movement. After watching them for a few seconds, Zexion closed his hand.

"Try doing that." He said.

Emi held out her palm just like she had seen Zexion do it. She willed the same allusion to appear, but nothing happened. Her palm remained empty. She looked at Zexion. He nodded for her to keep trying. Again and again she tried but nothing would happen. Zexion never gave her any tips he just watched her.

When dinner came around Kairi had gotten well at Sora's element and Xion had done a good job as well. Namine, Saïx, and Emi couldn't seem to do as well. After everyone had eaten they all went to bed, tired after training and learning magic.

As Emi sat in bed with Zexion next to her, she tried once again to make the two dancers appear. And yet once again nothing happened. Zexion watched her.

"It's okay if you can't do it, maybe your element is something else." He said, trying to comfort her. He could tell though she wouldn't just give up.

"There is something that tells me that I can do it, but I don't know what I'm doing wrong." She said as she tried again.

Zexion sighed for the second time that day. Moving closer he put his hand under hers. "Okay first, relax." Emi did her best to relax. "Now let your mind go blank." He waited a couple of seconds, and then took his hand away. "Imagine in your mind the two figures dancing." She saw them clearly in her mind.

"Open your eyes Emi." He said.

On her palm were the two figures dancing. They looked exactly like how she had imagined them. A rare smile lighting her face. She turned to Zexion proudly.

"I did it." She said.

"I knew you could." He said back as Emi let the illusion fade.


	11. The Days Before

Well another chapter, just to make up for the lack up updates during the 'error type 2'

Enjoy~

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_Chapter 11: The Days Before  
_

_Your time is near it won't be long_

_You've got to go when you're called upon_

_-Caesar_

The week passed quickly after that date. For the rest of the week half of the day was for physical fighting and the rest of the day was about learning magic. Kairi and Xion had the same element as Sora and Roxas, which was light. Emi got really better at wielding illusions, she could almost make them look as real as real life but there were still some glitches. Saïx had a different element all together; he said that it was the moon that was his element. It made sense with his demeanor and in life he had always been antsier when there was a full moon. Namine herself had a very unique element, it was healing. What was supposed to be part of white magic was really her element.

When it came to physically fighting Emi had the advantage. Saïx was definitely more powerful but his berserker state got in the way from his goal and actually killing it. Emi was more in control of the fight and seemed to be a couple steps ahead of her opponent. Xion was a good fighter and she could hold her own in a fight. Namine wasn't meant to fight but still she did seem to be able to defend herself and that was more than what Kairi could accomplish. Kairi just didn't want to be on the battlefield in general, and tried her best not to get hurt.

Magic had an advantage for everyone. Almost everyone could do elemental magic, and could efficiently wield at least one element. Emi and Xion were the only people that could use more than three though, while everyone else could only wield two. Emi could use all the elements except fire, which no one really question because she excelled in water magic. Namine could use only air and water, Kairi was earth and water, Xion had fire, earth, thunder and air, Emi could use water, air, earth, thunder, and ice.

White magic. The process of healing and enhancing others. Mainly people could heal others or cast barrier or esuna. Everyone except Saïx could do these abilities. Curing took everyone a couple of days to master besides Namine, considering it was her element.

Black magic. The process of disarming and inhibiting others abilities. Kairi and Namine couldn't do anything of the sort. Xion tried but failed, although some people thought that if she practiced more she would get it. Emi and Saïx were the ones who excelled in this. They both mastered the basic spells of stop, confuse and poison in just one day. Emi was working on the tougher spells of gravity and magnet that Saïx just couldn't seem to do.

As they had worked on mastering the skills they developed Xemnas explained to them all that they could do.

"Humans are different from their vampire counterpart in multiple ways. For instance you can still die from an accident or a fatal injury but otherwise you won't die. Age won't be a factor either; you stopped aging the moment you were bit. This doesn't forge until after you pass the trials but you get a mental link to your mate, allowing you to talk without words." When he said this he got stares. "What I with you guys and staring. I swear that's all you guys can do." Now everybody that wasn't staring at him before was now. "Fine, fine I'm continuing. The tattoos on your neck don't only represent who you belong to. They represent the abilities that you have. Eventually they grow bigger, but normally by such slow degrees that you won't notice it that much. After you pass the test you will have to find a familiar that will help you focus your abilities. Other new abilities will be that you will have keener eyesight which will allow you to notice things that you never really noticed before, such as body language or the details of a person. Finally your body will adapt to any situation better with faster speed and enhanced adaptation. These abilities don't just grow overnight, though, they come after a couple of months and if you want them to work as well as they can that's up to the person." Xemnas finally concluded.

"What about the vampire's abilities?" Emi asked.

"Well vampires share many of the same qualities. We can run at exceptionally fast speeds. We can see perfectly clear in the dark. We will live forever and almost nothing will kill us. We are stronger than any human that ever lived. Humans crave our attention making out hunting even easier; we care considered more attractive than most humans." A shocked look went through people at the use of the word 'hunting' but Xemnas over looked it. "Let's stop a couple of rumors though, we can't transform into animals, we can go out into sunlight even though if we stay out for too long we do get burned. Garlic doesn't affect us and neither does the cross and actually we can go into a church if we wanted to. Some vampires have different abilities, like some have telekinesis and others are psychic."

"What can kill you?" Kairi asked.

"Almost nothing actually. A sudden accident that will kill a human normally won't kill us. A steak to the heart doesn't kill us but decapitation will. That's just about the only way, but we can still die from an injury that won't stop bleeding or loss of limbs."

"So why do you have to find a mate?" asked Namine.

Xemnas didn't look like he wanted to answer. Instead he shot a look to Zexion, and Zexion started to speak.

"Basically when you become a vampire your heart stops. Not only physically but mentally as well. Your emotions stop as well and you just stop feeling. Your mate is the only one who can bring your heart back to life and start those feelings again. So when you become a vampire you need to find your mate to begin those feelings again. If you don't find your mate after a certain amount of time, then you start to go crazy. The mind isn't meant to go without emotions and can only stay like that for oh-so much time. That's why we need to find our mate." He finished.

Everyone went back to their training and even with all of this mapped out before them it was still a bit hard to take in. Still it seemed like a dream that didn't really exist yet. But with every second there was more and more that told them that they couldn't just ignore what was happening. But they couldn't just ignore it, it was really happening and it was becoming more and more obvious that this was happening and this was real.

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Well another chapter over and out. I like this chapter. If you dont get anything that i wrote about abilities please say so so i can either tell you or fix it.

For everyone that reads this please review it means so much to me and I practically live off of reviews! PLEASE SUPPORT MY LIFE!

Thanks for reading

**R & R!**


	12. Trial Day

Well i have been beyond sick this entire week, i dont even want to think off all the work that i have to make up...

Well one thing that i have to make clear, is that in the meeting room everyone gets to share their chairs with their mates unless they choose otherwise for example everyone shares chairs except Saïx and Xemnas b/c Xemnas has to look official and such be/c hes the leader.

I liked this chapter it was fun to write all the battle scenes and such, I thought that i did well with the battle scenes since it was my first time writing anything like that...well anyway...

Well thats enough talking for now...Maybe...Okay ya it is.

Enjoy~

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_Chapter 12: Trial Day_

_I'm gonna prove it to the world_

_I'm gonna prove it to the world_

_So here I go_

_-MXPX_

"Xemnas you can't do this!"

The trials start today. The week of training seemed to fly by. Days passed easily, especially after they had found out all the details of their abilities. The rest of the days that passed after that had a nice routine. They just mainly stayed in the training area and practiced.

"For the final time it's not up to me. An outside representative is coming in to judge."

The trials would start in an hour. Everyone was over-stressed and over anxious. No one wanted to wait, everyone just wanted to see the outcome already. But time just wanted to slowly trickle by.

"You just can't take them from us, it's just not right. We asked them to leave their homes and give up everything for us, and all of the sudden were just supposed to get rid of them if they don't pass a stupid test?" They said.

"Yes, I can and yes you will" A voice from below said. Xemnas, Sora, Riku, Roxas, and Zexion looked down at the sound of the voice.

They had been talking in the round room, trying to convince Xemnas not to go through with the trials. Nothing they said seemed to work though, Xemnas just wouldn't back down. It had been like this for a while now but all the while Xemnas wouldn't budge. They voice had startled all of them. They all looked down to find Cloud standing in the middle of the room.

"Cloud, they sent you? I thought that you never did things like this." Sora said. He received a cold stare from Cloud in response.

"Normally I don't, but they couldn't find anyone else so I had to." He said. Cloud turned to Xemnas. "Go and gather the mates I have little patience and want to get this over with as soon as possible."

"Yes sir." They all said, even Xemnas and left to go and get their mates.

Since the trials weren't really supposed to start for an hour, it was a little chaotic. But due to the urgency that the guys seemed to have everyone got to the meeting room in about ten minutes.

Cloud waited until everyone sat in their chairs before he started talking. He had a clipboard in his hands.

"Alright my name is Cloud. When I list off your name you need to come down here and then proceed to fight who I tell you to fight. Is that clear?" He didn't wait for a response before he started talking again. "Everyone who needs to be tested will face whoever I say they will, no questions asked. Alright that's enough, first up is Kairi and Xaldin." Both of them got down on the floor. Kairi kept shooting 'save me' looks to Sora but he just kept giving her a look that said that he couldn't do anything.

"There are just three rules, one don't kill each other two try to avoid fatal injuries and three no one else can intervene in the fight." Cloud had stood by them while he was talking but started backing away when he got to rule number three. "Begin."

The battle ensued. Xaldin didn't hold anything back as he constantly through his lances at Kairi. She ended up having to dodge a lot, but she barely got hit. Xaldin kept using the wind to knock her over but she moved with the wind to avoid him. She mainly just seemed to try to avoid him. Everyone was on the edge of their seats, even though they knew that Xaldin wouldn't hurt her. At one point Kairi was knocked over again by the wind and found herself behind Xaldin. Taking the chance she ran with the wind and used her element of light to engulf the room. No one could see anything for a second but when the light cleared Xaldin was laying on the ground, Kairi was standing with her keyblade in hand.

Cloud told her she could sit back down while he wrote something down on his clipboard. Xaldin went back to his seat as well. "Next, Saïx and Zexion. Same rules are to be used here as well as in all the other battles. Begin."

The two had both stood in the middle of the room as Cloud spoke, weapons in hand. Yet no sooner had Cloud said the word 'begin' that Zexion was gone. He seemed to have vanished in midair. The room was deadly silent and the fact that Saïx couldn't see Zexion made him really jumpy. Suddenly Zexion was right behind Saïx. "Here I am." He said. Saïx whipped around, claymore swinging, only to have it cut through an illusion. Zexion's laughter filled the air, taunting Saïx. "You can't see me Saïx, how will you find me?" Zexion's voice seemed to come from all direction. Saïx looked like he was going to go into his berserker state at any second, but then he closed his eyes. After he took a few calming breathes he started listening. Knowing that he couldn't rely on his sight if Zexion was just going to make himself invisible. After about a minute of Saïx just standing there he suddenly moved over and swung his claymore. It hit something solid. There was Zexion standing there arms up to defend himself against the blow. His Lexicon absorbed the blow, but as a result it went flying across the room.

Cloud decided to interrupt at that point. Telling them both to go and sit back down as he wrote once again on his clipboard. "Next is Namine and Lexaeus. Begin."

It was like the roles were reversed from the last battle. Namine was good with magic, while on the other hand Lexaeus was mainly about physical strength. Every time he swung his tomahawk and it missed it left a crater in the floor. Emi sat on the very edge of her seat, using all her self-control not to go and help her little sister. Namine after dodging for a while opened _memoria oblivion,_ and actually jumped inside of it. The book itself fell to the floor in a clatter, but remained still, as if nothing had happened. Lexaeus went over and picked the book up, flipping its paged open. Suddenly the book grew to his size and captured him in it. Namine stepped calmly out of its pages. As _memoria oblivione _shrunk back to its original size, Cloud said this battle was over. When he said that the book opened up and Lexaeus stepped out of it, looking as confused as he could be.

"Next up is Xion and Riku. Begin."

Their battle was different they just fought with their keyblades. As soon as the battle with Namine and Lexaeus was over Emi had slumped back in her seat, obviously relieved. She looked over at Zexion.

"Zexion why does it seem like everyone is afraid of Cloud?" she whispered to him.

He sighed. "Well Cloud and his mate, Leon, rule over our society. Normally Cloud won't do stuff like this but they couldn't find anyone else. Everyone's mainly on edge because Cloud can be very unforgiving and there's really no way to tell if he will pass someone or not." Zexion whispered back.

Emi relaxed and turned back to the battle. It was over actually, Riku was standing over Xion, keyblade on her neck. "Did Riku just win?" Emi asked. Zexion nodded in response. Cloud just watched with no facial expression but wrote for a while on his clipboard. When he finally stopped everyone was staring at him.

"The final people are Emi and Axel. Begin."

Emi had already jumped down, knowing that she was the only person left. When Axel heard his name he jumped down with a smirk on his face. Everyone knew what had happened when Emi first saw Axel and they were all curious to see how the battle played out.

Immediately Axel started throwing his chakrams at her. She dodged easily. It went on like that for a couple of minutes, Axel constantly throwing his chakrams at her, giving Emi barely any time to recover. Eventually his arms seemed to tire and he stopped for just a second, giving Emi the second that she needed. Copying Zexion's technique from when he battled Saïx. She became invisible in that one second. Axel looked around for her but couldn't identify her. Suddenly there were Emi's everywhere. They all moved at once, all exactly the same. "Which one is the real one Axel? Hm?" They all said. Axel got frustrated and stated taking out rows of them. But for every row he took out another one would pop up. Frustrated he used one of his more powerful attacks, and coated the room with fire. Most of Emi's doubles disappeared, but a couple remained. Letting what doubles remained disappear she ran forward and attacked Axel. They fought for a while until finally Axel managed to push her back. Seeing the room still coated in fire, Emi managed to use magic. She used water and drenched Axel in it. The force of the water hitting him from above brought him down to his knees and made him stop using his element. While he was still on his knees Emi came from behind and but both of her blades against his neck, one on each side.

"Well I think that's enough for your guys' fight. Go sit down so that I can announce if you passed or not." Cloud said without looking up from his clipboard." Slowly Emi backed off and sat down, Axel doing the same. When Emi got back to her seat with Zexion, she noticed she had a burn on her arm from Axel. Zexion clucked his tongue and wrapped it up. At Emi's confused look as to where he got it, Zexion explained that he brought it just in case someone got hurt.

Cloud wrote more on his clipboard for a while. When he finally looked up everyone was staring at him impatiently. Xion was desperately clinging to Roxas, she was the most nervous on the account of the fact that she didn't win.

"Congratulations you all passed. Now leave me alone so I can leave." Without another word he left without taking a glance back.

Everyone was exceptionally relieved. Xion looked like she was going to pass out from relief.

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So once again i ask you all to tell me what you thought! Please don't be afraid to hold back i love any review!

**R & R**


	13. Some New Information

So before you all kill me there is a reason why this chapter is so short. It was either have a really really _really _long chapter or put this part in another chapter to make it more easy to read.

Well, enjoy!~

* * *

_Chapter 13: Some New Information_

_Don't care about all the pain in front of me_

_Cause I'm just trying to be happy, yeah_

_Just wanna be happy, ya  
_

_-Leona Lewis_

The days after the trials were filled with calmness and relaxation. Everyone was just really relieved that they all managed to make it past the trials. Days followed into a routine as people started to do the same thing every day. Days consisted of people mainly going to meals and doing fee time activities in between meals. With the mates getting accustomed to their new lives it seemed to dawn on them that they were never going to be able to go home again. Emi and Namine were the only ones who didn't seem to get depressed at this news; both of them had no desire to go back to their home.

Xion, Kairi, and even Saïx seemed to fall into a depressed state. While Xemnas, Roxas and Sora tried everything they could, nothing seemed to cheer them up. They turned to Emi and Namine for an answer but they didn't know what to do either, saying that they had never seen them like this before. It went on like this for a week. Saïx didn't seem to get better but Xion and Kairi both got more dejected as the week wore on. Everyone was lost on what to do but it finally seemed like Xemnas got an idea. He called everyone into a meeting.

"Since some people have gotten depressed lately, tomorrow were all going to go out and get your familiars. It's supposed to be done a month after you arrive but seeing as how it's only another week and I am allowed bring up the date were going tomorrow. Meeting adjourned" Xemnas left immediately afterwards.

The room buzzed with gossip after that. It was just the thought of going outside and seeing other people. While the vampires got to leave every day for their missions, the girls were feeling like they were starting to get cabin fever. Nobody wanted to wait until tomorrow. The vampires were immediately questioned about where they were going and what was to be expected. They were told that they're going to the Humane Society but the exact location wasn't ever said. It was one of the biggest shelters, so they said to expect to be there all day.

The rest of the day passed without any event, just an atmosphere of anticipation in the background as everyone prepared for tomorrow.

-X-X-X-X-X-

Everyone woke up early; even Kairi who people normally couldn't drag out of bed before nine a.m. People moved around excitedly and the atmosphere of anticipation turned into eagerness. By eight in the morning everyone had already eaten breakfast and was ready to go. Nobody had to wait long, Xemnas who was normally late arrived as soon as he heard that everyone was waiting on him.

At eight fifteen they left for the animal shelter. The portals sent them about a block from the shelter as to not cause too much suspicion. The walk there was filled with even more excitement and Kairi practically wanted to run straight there.

"Now this is one of the most famous places to get your familiars, about ninety five percent of humans find their mates here. If you do not find your familiar don't get upset they get new animals every day and there are other places. This place is always the place that they take people first because here they shelter exotic animals. There is one more thing before you go in, you will discover a new power when you find your familiar." He said all this on the one block walk there but stopped when they got to the front door.

Everyone split off into pairs. Kairi looked as happy as could be and started to skip off with Sora trying to keep up. Xion and Roxas walked more calmly, though more reserved. Namine gave Emi an apologetic look before walking off with Riku. As usual Xemnas and Saïx were nowhere to be seen. Emi and Zexion walked off together, neither sure of where to start.

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Love it? Hate it?

Tell me!

**R & R**


	14. New Abilities and New Pets

Super long chapter...It took me so long to write...But it was worth it. (4,260 words by the way, not including the comments)

Alright so there is something that you need to know:

_Italicize means Zexion._

**Bold means the worker.**

**_All three means the animal._**

_Underlined and italicized means Emi._

So that's really what you need to know. But it wont come into part until the later chapters.

Also this chapter is in peoples p.o.v.'s so if you like that please tell me because if people like it I'll do it more often.

Well thats enough.

Enjoy~

* * *

_Chapter 14: New Abilities and New Pets_

_You should already know  
I choose you _

_-Mario_

Kairi knew exactly where she wanted to go first. She wanted to look at the puppies. She had always had a soft spot for them, and was never allowed one at home. Grabbing Sora and dragging him along, she quickly found the door marked, 'puppies'.

"Come on Sora! You're so lazy. As they walked through the door, Sora groaned. There were probably hundreds of just puppies here. Xemnas wasn't joking when he said this was one of the largest shelters. Sora kept pace with Kairi as she looked at every single puppy there was. Sora groaned again as he realized what he had hoped to be a short trip was probably going to be an all-day event and might even go into tomorrow.

Kairi diligently looked at every puppy there was, stopping at every single cage to see if there was anything that caught her eye. When they got through half the cages and still nothing caught her eye she began to worry.

"Sora what exactly am I looking for?" she asked.

"Well it's said that the animal will recognize you, almost like it's a past pet that was reincarnated. Also it's said that you will be able to tell with just one look." He said.

After that she didn't really talk, instead she just continued on her way through the puppies. They got through all the puppies and still nothing happened. Kairi let out a sigh, obviously disappointed. Sora took hold of her hand.

"Don't worry Kairi, just because it wasn't a puppy I'm sure that they will be just as adorable." He said comfortingly, squeezing her hand. He smiled at her and got a small smile in return. "Come on let's go on and see the kittens." Kairi nodded as this time Sora dragged her along.

After going through the kitten area and still finding nothing, even though the kitten area had about just as many kittens as the puppy area, Kairi seemed at a loss for what to do. She didn't want to look at the adult cats or the adult dogs, saying that she only liked them if she had them since they were young. That really only left one area still available. Together Sora and Kairi entered the area with rabbits, hamsters and birds.

Strangely enough all the birds hated Sora. After being squawked at and getting pecked by a parrot Sora waited outside, tending to his new cuts courtesy of the parrot. Kairi stayed though seeing as how this was the last place left in the shelter for her to look today.

The birds tolerated Kairi, although none of them would let her come near them. Crossing them off the list of what was there, she moved on. Kairi didn't go near the reptiles; she hated snakes of all kind and didn't feel like seeing those today. The hamsters were friendly, obviously used to being held and played with. One even ran up her arm and perched on her shoulder. Kairi giggled at how much it tickled. Leaving it perched on her shoulder; she continued walking on to the other animals. The only thing left were the bunnies, but none of them liked her very much and she walked away.

Sora was waiting outside, wounds healed and leaning against the wall next to the door. He looked Kairi over before asking, "Did you find anything?" Kairi shook her head sadly. Sora gave her a strange look.

"What?" she asked quizzically.

"Kairi there's a hamster perched on your shoulder." He pointed then took the hamster off her shoulder. It squeaked in protest and Sora handed the hamster back to Kairi, where it immediately ran back to her shoulder.

When Sora had taken the hamster off her shoulder, she immediately felt different. The warmth was gone and she felt like a piece of her was missing, like how she imagined she would feel if Sora ever left her. Petting the hamster so that it would calm down from being taken off her shoulder, she felt a spark go up her arm, and then she could suddenly see what the hamster saw.

Everything looked so much bigger, and she felt so much smaller. But she felt safe against this warm body and relaxed. Kairi looked and saw red hair and looked ahead and saw Sora looking at her with a weird look. Then she realized, she was looking out of the hamsters eyes. The hamster's eyes. Taking a deep breathe she closed her eyes and opened them again to be back in her own mind.

"Wow…" she whispered.

-X-X-X-X-

Xion and Roxas walked calmly through the shelter, looking ahead at the bouncing Kairi and Sora getting dragged along by her. Xion was at a lost for where to go; she had never been in a shelter and was never allowed to get a pet. So she let Roxas lead, until he finally stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"What do you like more Xion? Cats or dogs?" He asked. Xion thought for a second.

"Cats, definitely cats. Dogs don't really ten to like me." Roxas nodded and then started walking again. Xion still followed, walking a step or two behind him.

Roxas had stopped outside a room labeled 'kittens'. "If you don't find anything in here, then there is an adult cat area. Then if you really don't find a cat that you like there is the small animal area and the exotic animals." He said as he opened the door.

The room was just about bursting with kittens. The whole place was slightly crowded, just enough that you had to be careful that you didn't accidently bump into someone. Roxas let Xion lead this time as he fell a step behind her as she looked at the kittens. Roxas had told her what to do and what to look for. He had said that if anything caught her eye then to stop and touch it, because it takes touch to finalize the contact, although they will feel automatically drawn to it. Xion looked at every single kitten but none of them caught her eye.

Just when they had finished up with the kitten area, Xion spotted a small cage tucked away into a corner. Her curiosity getting a hold of her she moved over to the cage. Pulling it out of the corner she opened it to find three little kittens inside of it. One was a nice tan brown, and was curled up into a little ball in the corner. Xion picked him up, and he could fit into her palm without uncurling from his ball. Careful not to wake him up, Xion placed him back in his corner. She looked at the other kittens, both of which looked at her with curious eyes. One was an extremely fluffy gray with bright copper eyes. Scooping that one up, it was more interested in playing then letting Xion look at her. Finally there was only one that Xion hadn't looked at yet, it sat on the bottom of the cage looking at her with wide eyes.

The final kitten was a pure white, with a little spot of black on her nose. She meowed at Xion, obviously requesting to be picked up. As soon as Xion did, the kitten buried itself into Xion's chest and snuggled into the crook for her arm. Xion smiled a little at how cute it was. Placing the cage back into its place, Xion continued to hold the small white kitten in her arms.

"Xion?" Roxas said, breaking Xion out of her trance and getting a hold of her attention. "Can I see?" Xion nodded as Roxas took the small kitten.

Xion felt a sudden loss of warmth and saw the small kitten immediately wake up. Meowing in protest, it squirmed in Roxas' arms until he finally handed it back to Xion. Xion smirked at Roxas' look as the kitten immediately fell back asleep in her arms. Petting the kitten's ears, she felt a spark of warmth travel from her hand to her arm and go straight to her heart. Then it was like she had the senses of a cat. Her hearing improved tenfold, she could see everything that lied in the darkness, she could smell everything even Roxas' sent, and she was suddenly aware that her body would be able to do a lot more than before.

Xion took her hand away from the kitten, and the feelings and senses went away.

"Wow…" she whispered.

-X-X-X-X-

Xemnas and Saïx didn't even wait for everyone to register what he said as they disappeared without another notice. Saïx had never wanted a pet, and was only going to go where Xemnas took him and Xemnas knew that. Knowing that Saïx was not a cat person or of those any other animals, Xemnas took Saïx to the dog area. Xemnas knew that Saïx would not want a puppy; they just went straight to the dog area.

Saïx looked at the dogs with little interest. Nothing caught his eyes and he looked like he could care less about everything and just wanted to leave. Xemnas walked a couple steps behind, giving Saïx space to see every animal and so that he didn't feel rushed. But Saïx had no interest in the dogs. Saïx quickly went through the entire dog area, his interest still not caught by any of the dogs.

Xemnas gave a sigh. It wasn't a sigh of anger or anything like that but rather or exasperation. He should have known that Saïx would be the hardest to find a familiar for and now it was almost biting him in the butt. He didn't know where to take Saïx next but Saïx seemed to be in no rush, waiting for Xemnas to make a decision. Xemnas snapped his fingers and he remembered that this place also carried exotic pets for adoption.

Xemnas led the way, to a door that had a big red sign that said 'Danger enter at your own risk!' Saïx raised an eyebrow, but otherwise still followed Xemnas into the room. It was just as large as the other rooms, but had noticeably less animals in it. Just as a precaution Xemnas walked right beside Saïx, but still walked slowly so that Saïx would look at all the animals.

They looked at every cage and if Xemnas every felt like Saïx didn't look at every animal Xemnas would stop and examine it, making Saïx stop and look in it more carefully. The animals really were exotic animals, in one cage there was a python, in another were a couple of monkeys. Saïx's eyebrow was constantly raised at the collection of different animals. After they passed by a camel, Saïx looked like he was just about to say something to leave when the next animal caught his attention.

It was a large timber wolf. It stood in the back of his cage, glaring at every person that walked by. The wolf was colored a dark grayish-brown across his back and all the way to the top of his eyes. Under his eyes and coating the rest of his face was a light tan color, covering his muzzle and cheeks. Under his jaw and on his chest was a white color, coming along until it reached his stomach. His tail was also the light tan color covering that covered his face. He sat on the ground, back straight and his tail wrapped around his front paws.

Saïx walked over to the large cage door and opened it up. The wolf didn't growl at him, just stared at him with a curious expression. Saïx slowly walked forward, almost seeming to know that if he made a sudden movement it would set the wolf off. Reaching out the hand, Saïx slowly moved the hand closer and placed it right in front of the wolf. The timber wolf leaned forward just a bit and sniffed his hand, then placed his nose under it. Saïx lightly placed his hand on the wolf.

This time no one had to take the wolf away from Saïx. The spark of warmth went from his hand straight to his heart, spreading through his chest. Time seemed to slow down. He could see everything that was happening around his, just at a faster rate. In less than a second he noticed Xemnas take a step forward, saw a man who worked here start to run over to them and he noticed the wolf get on his guard. Saïx turned around, and took his hand off the wolf, making everything go back to its normal speed.

The worker came running up. "Hey you're not allowed to go in the cages without someone"

"Well we did." Xemnas snapped. The two started bickering.

"Enough," Saïx said, raising a hand. "Xemnas lets go home." He said walking away, Xemnas and his wolf following after him.

-X-X-X-X-

Riku and Namine walked slowly. They left with Namine giving Emi an apologetic look, almost as if saying sorry that she wanted to be with Riku for this. Riku gave a smirk at the small victory of her going with him and not clinging to Emi. Personally he didn't care what Emi went through, and he thought that Namine shouldn't be dragged down by her sister constantly protecting her. Yes he was extremely jealous of how much time they spent together, but he would never admit it himself.

Namine walked alongside Riku, arms wrapped around her stomach. She kept her head up though. Riku looked at her.

"Namine, have you ever had a pet before?" Riku asked, curiously. Namine shook her head.

"No, the one time I tried to have one, it was taken away and then Emi got beat up for letting me bring an animal home." She said. Namine looked about ready to cry.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. Well if you could have a pet what would you have?" Riku said, trying to save the situation.

"I always wanted a dog." She said, after a moment of thought. Riku smiled

"Alright let's go there." He said. When she seemed hesitant he gently tugged her arm, giving her a little motivation.

They walked calmly to the puppy area. They walked into the area. It was slightly crowded in there; puppies are always a large attraction. There was a person in ever cage looking at the pups. Namine walked past the cages that already had people in them, but she still stole glances at every pup per Riku's request. None of them had any effect on her. The area went by fast, and a lot of the people thinned out as the time passed. By the time they got into the middle of the puppy area most of the people had already picked a puppy.

Normally every cage had at least two or three puppies in them. In one cage then there was only one puppy. It sat on the very edge of the cage, looking at every person that walked by. But no one seemed to see the pup. Namine felt immediately and went over to the cage. The pup began jumping up and down in excitement as Namine opened up the cage door. As she stepped in the pup ran around her ankles, barking from joy. Namine reached down and the pup jumped into her arms. Namine giggled as the pup squirmed in her arms, trying to lick her face.

"Well Namine, it seems someone likes you." Riku said with a smile.

Namine nodded in agreement as she pet the pup to try to calm him down. As she pet the dog, he finally calmed down and laid on her shoulder already falling asleep. The more that Namine petted the pup, the more that she could feel his warmth spreading to her. She felt the warmth go right into her heart.

Riku started at Namine. The longer he stared, the wider his eyes got. They had grown to a comically wide state by the time Namine finally looked back at him.

"What Riku? What's wrong?" She asked worriedly, taking a step forward.

"Um Namine, um, look at your hand." He didn't seem to know what to say.

"What?" She asked confused.

"Just do it!" Riku said, almost like he was going to panic.

Not knowing what else to do she moved the pup to support him with one hand. Holding her other now free hand in front of her she was shocked.

It was gone.

Her hand was gone.

She was beginning to freak out. Taking deep breathes to keep calm; she slowly put the puppy down on the ground. As soon as the puppy was on the ground, and looking at her as to why she put him down, she became visible again. Staring at herself to make sure she was really there, realization dawned on her about what Xemnas had said.

'They will give you a new power as well…" he had said.

"Wow…" She said.

-X-X-X-X-

Emi and Zexion were the very last ones to leave to look at animals. After smiling at Namine to reassure her that it was perfectly fine, they started walking. Emi had no interest in cats, so instead they ended up walking to the dog area. Emi had said that she didn't want a puppy, not really explaining why though.

They walked through the entire area. Zexion walked right next to her, glaring daggers at every single guy that looked at her for longer than two seconds. Emi paid it no mind, figuring to let him do what he wanted; instead she focused on looking at the animals. None of them caught her attention through the whole area. The dogs all seemed to like her though and would walk right up to the edge of the cage and try for her attention. She looked thoughtfully at most but still wouldn't go and give them any attention. Zexion stayed right by her side the entire time though, never once leaving it.

After going through the entire area and still not finding anything, both Zexion and Emi seemed at a loss for what to do. Zexion walked past all of the areas, and at every single one Emi shook her head signaling to him that she had no interest in the animals in that room. Zexion sighed out of exasperation. He walked past door after door, until he stopped hearing her steps behind him.

Emi stopped to stare at a door. It was one that Zexion didn't really want to have them go in at the first place, mainly because it said 'Danger enter at your own risk!' But it had caught her attention and she walked in, not even waiting for him to catch up.

She moved rapidly through the area, still glancing at the animals but not really registering what was in there. Emi moved with a quickened pace and seemed to know exactly where she was heading to, as if another force was calling her. Zexion soon had to jog to keep up with her, as she had broken out into a full on run. Emi stopped all at once, with no warning at all. It took all of Zexion's self-control to not run straight into her. She stared raptly into one of the cages.

Inside the cage was an extremely large animal. Lying on a blanket inside the cage was something that was obviously sleeping. Emi stepped forward into the cage, opening the door very slowly. When it heard the door creak open, the animal raised its head, and stared at her. Whatever it was, as still neither of them could tell what kind of animal it was, stared at her with bright green eyes. Slowly it raised itself from where it had been laying and stood on its legs. Its fur was pure white, not a single other color marked its skin other than its black nose. When it stood they could tell what kind of animal it actually was. It was either a wolf or a dog, neither one for sure but defiantly not both. Emi took a very small step forward, but didn't raise her hand. The wolf-dog just stared at her with its bright green eyes.

"Hey! What are you doing? Get out of there!" A worker yelled as he came running forward.

"You don't get it that animal doesn't like anyone, he might kill you!" Just when he finished that sentence, it was like it set everything into motion.

In a quick movement the wolf-dog took two giant steps forward and leapt towards Emi. Tackling her to the ground, Emi landed straight on her back, arms raised in defense. Zexion leaped forward as well but something made him pause.

It was laughter.

Laughter filled the air as the wolf-dog didn't growl or bite or bark. Zexion and the worker stared in shock as the wolf-dog was licking Emi. Actually licking her. Emi was laughing, trying to get the wolf-dog off of her. Finally with a giant heave she pushed him to the side so that she could sit up. She draped her arm around the wolf-dog's shoulders and gave them a quizzical look. All they could do was stare in shock.

As Emi pet the wolf-dog, she felt the warmth radiating off of him. It traveled from her arm and seemed to go straight to her heart. As it entered, the world seemed to suddenly get louder.

_What just happened…?_

**I have never known him to like anyone…That was just strange….**

_**Human better be careful, not all like you, human…**_

The last voice was different from the others. There was something more bestial about it. Emi looked at the wolf-dog to see it staring right at her.

_**Don't worry human, I will protect you…**_

The wolf-dog leaned closer and lightly liked her face, as if sealing his promise.

Emi slowly took her arm away, and all the noise stopped. Placing her hand on him again the noise started again.

_What is she doing? _

That voice was easy to recognize now. It was Zexion. He even had the look on his face that matched his question perfectly.

_I can hear their voices…,_ she thought.

_What is your name? And what are you?_ She thought directed at the wolf-dog, knowing that he would respond.

_**I am your protector. As for a name, it is whatever you wish to call me.**_ He responded back after a moment.

Emi contemplated the new information. Thinking to herself for a second she decided on a name. Taking her hand away, Emi walked towards the entrance of the cage, her new familiar at her side. She walked straight past the still stunned worker and a stunned Zexion.

* * *

ANIMALS: If it doesn't work then just take out all the spaces.

Hamster: http:/www . funnypictures . net . au/ userimages/ dwarf-hamster . jpg

White kitten :http:/www .catsincorporated . org/ sitebuildercontent/ sitebuilderpictures/ Duckat-missingfromAnnandaleMay2008 . jpg (I know its an adult just imagine it as a kitten)

Timber Wolf: http:/gallery . photo . net/ photo/ 1203206-lg . jpg

Black and White puppy: http:/ secure . adpay . com/ Images/ Items/ 4668253 . Jpg

Wolf-dog: http:/www . dollyvardenalaska . com/ white%20husky . jpg (Yes the picture is a wolf but remember in the story you cant tell)

Alright next chapter the animals get names, let me know if you have any suggestions because I am having some troubles.

Let me know if you like the different p.o.v.'s by the way.

Well and also let me know what you think.

**R & R PLEASE!**


	15. Nightmares

OMG I HAVENT UPDATED SINCE APRIL 30? WHERE DID THE TIME GO?

Well I had horrible writers block so thats an answer.

I want to give some thanks.

Thanks to **Kisshu is cool**, **KingdomHeartsLoverLovesYou**, and** roxy mccartney**. For reviewing my story.

I also want to thank anyone who has read and who has ever put this story on their author alerts and/or Favorited it.

Thanks so much it means so much to me.

Well enjoy!~

* * *

_Chapter 15:_ _Nightmares_

"_Your nightmares follow you like a shadow, forever."_

_-Aleksandar Hemon_

"_Mommy where are we going?" The little girl asked. _

"_It's a surprise hunny." She responded back. Her eyes were dead straight ahead on the road before her. It was a bright and sunny day, the middle of the afternoon._

_Emi was so confused. Out of nowhere her mom had come and pulled her and her sister, Namine, out of school and put them in the car. She had no idea of where she was going or what was going on her mom hadn't said anything other than that it was a surprise. The car was filled to the brim with bags and boxes and her mom looked worried out of her mind. Namine was sound asleep in her car seat, sleeping at what would have normally been her naptime in class. _

_Her mom looked worried out of her mind. She kept looking around her and behind her, constantly checking her rearview mirror for anything behind her. While the road had cars every time she looked behind her, Emi saw nothing that she should be worried about. _

"_Mommy what's wrong? Where are we going?" Emi asked again. Her mom let out a sigh._

"_Um, well you see….were going…. Oh I know, were going on a vacation!" Her mom said. _

"_Really Mommy, where to?"_

"_That's the surprise. But if you keep asking me where were going we might never get there. I mean you don't want the surprise to be ruined do you?" She finished. _

"_Okay Mommy, I won't ask anymore." Emi said with a smile. She settled into her seat and looked out the window instead._

_Her mom finally took her eyes off the road to look at her two daughters. She smiled but there was something hidden in that smile, a hidden secret. _

_Outside the car was nice, it was bright, joyful and other kids were seen playing in the street as well. Emi smiled at all the bustling activity. It was better than her school where everything was confined and scheduled. Her mom slowly moved forward. _

_The loud sounds of screeching were heard. Then there was the sound of metal on metal, the entire car jerked to the side. All the glass windows in the car splintered and fell into the car, cutting everyone. Emi felt the pain from the scratches and saw that her arms were bleeding. When the car finally stopped moving she looked to ask her mom what had just happened._

"_Mommy?" _

_Her mom didn't stir at all. She lay slummed across the steering wheel. Emi unbuckled her seatbelt and slowly crawled to the front of the car where her mom was. She shook her shoulder. Her mom's eyes blearily opened. _

"_Mommy? What's wrong? Are you okay?" Panic rose up inside of her as she saw her mom blink once more and then slowly blood started to drip down into her face. _

"_Emi…..protect your sister…" She breathed raggedly for a second. "I'm sorry that…..I couldn't protect you." Her eyes closed again. When they didn't rise again Emi started to cry. _

"_Mommy? Mom please open your eyes! Please Mom!"_

-X-X-X-X-

Emi awoke a scream erupting from her lips. She immediately sat straight up, breathing heavily. Zexion and her familiar, Shiloh, were both near her. Shiloh was whining lightly looking at her. Zexion looked like he was going to say something but couldn't find the words.

"Emi? What were you dreaming about? You started screaming, and then just woke up." He finally said.

Emi just stared at her lap. She couldn't think. It was getting harder to breathe, like the air was suddenly a lot heavier. She couldn't feel herself; it was almost like she was outside her body. Her heart was racing though and she tried to breathe deeply to calm herself but she couldn't breathe anymore. Zexion started to ask more questions, but she couldn't hear him anymore. All Emi knew was that he wanted to know find out what was going on.

So Emi did the only thing she could do.

She ran.

* * *

Well you just the very first piece of the puzzle in many to come

This is what happened to Emi's mom.

Love it? Hate it? Anything wrong or what I could do better? REVIEW AND TELL ME!

**R&R**


	16. The Bond of Sisterhood

Another update here for you guys.

Oh hey I need a beta-reader. If anyone wants to please send me a message.

Enjoy~

* * *

_Chapter 16: The Bond of Sisterhood_

_It happens in a blink_

_It happens in a flash_

_It happens in the time it takes to look back_

_-Revive_

Emi ran.

She didn't know exactly where she was going. But she was aware that Shiloh was right on her heels following her wherever she ran.

Emi couldn't see anymore, tears had started to prick her eyes, making it hard to see. None of the tears fell, but they clouded her vision. Soon Emi was just going up stairs. She wasn't sure how she had found them but she just kept climbing. After what had seemed like hundreds of steps, the stairs finally ended.

When she finally stopped, she didn't know where she was. All the hallways looked the same. Emi just started to wander around, going back down the stairs, going through hallway after hallway. She wandered for what felt like hours but was really only about a half hour.

Emi kept wandering when she found herself outside a familiar doorway. Pushing it open she found herself in the room where she had met everyone else. The heart-shaped moon clearly visible in the dark sky, it seemed to be the only sign of life in the room.

Staring at the moon, Emi walked across the room and over to the glass. Lightly placing her hand on the glass, she continued to stare at the moon. There was something about it right now that was captivating, like it was trying to draw her in. It felt like something was trying to grab her right out of her body, pulling her mind out of her skull.

She couldn't feel her body anymore; she couldn't feel her hand on the cold glass. It was like she was floating. Not panicking at she relaxed, and let her mind continue on with what was happening.

"Emi?" A voice said behind her.

Like a rubber band that was stretched too far, Emi snapped back into her body. Feeling more shaken then when she left Zexion's room, Emi turned around to see who disrupted her. It was Luxord.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Emi nodded.

Glancing at the moon one last time, she turned her attention to the vampire in front of her.

"Can you show me where my sister is staying?"

Luxord looked her over one last time, before heaving a sigh and motioning for her to follow. They went through the maze of hallways. Emi didn't even try to figure out where they were going, all she could think about was what had happened earlier. Something different had happened when she stared at the moon and she was determined to figure out what it was. They finally stopped outside a doorway. Luxord motioned to the door and then started to walk away.

"Luxord." Emi said, her voice was barely above a whisper but he heard it anyway. He stopped and turned his head slightly.

"Thanks." She whispered before opening the door and walking in.

The room was extremely dark but Emi navigated her way through it easily. She found her sister asleep on the bed next to Riku. Emi slowly walked over and nudged her sister awake. Namine looked up at her with bleary eyes before reaching up and giving her a hug.

It was something that they had done since they were little. Whenever one of them had a nightmare they would go and stay in the others room. It was nice and comforting, something that was always there in case they needed it.

Emi and Namine laid together on the bed, both falling asleep within minutes.

* * *

Its all coming together just slowly...Be patient with me here...

Well what did you guys and gals think?

**R & R please**


	17. Lost then Found

Time just likes to fly by doesnt it?

See this woulddnt be happening if I got a review once and while to remind me to update...

*cough_imply_cough*

Geeze Louse people review so that Ill put the next chapter up faster.

And all you people that are following this story and havent reviewed _I know who you are_

Well I think that's enough.

Enjoy!~

* * *

_Chapter 17: Lost then Found _

_If I wasn't here tomorrow_

_Would anybody care?_

_-Skillet_

No one saw Emi for days. Namine woke up to find that her sister was gone and couldn't find her anywhere. With every day that passed Zexion grew more and more worried. He hid it well; only Lexaeus and Vexen were able to tell he was growing worried. Namine and the others didn't seem to mind, all their worried seemed to melt away when Namine said that this was normal. All the girls remembered it from when Emi wouldn't come to school for a while.

A day passed, then three, then before anyone had guessed a week had passed.

When ten days hit, people started to worry again. Emi had never been gone for this long. Even though there were clear signs every morning that Emi had been there to get food, but still they worried since they couldn't see her. The only person that didn't seem to worry was Axel. In fact the more time that passed, the happier he seemed to get.

Axel started parading around, talking and showing off how happy he was that Emi hadn't been around. He was taunting Zexion, Zexion knew it and everyone else knew it to. Zexion endured it for days until that tenth day hit, when Axel went right up to him and asked him how he felt with her gone.

"I mean come on dude you have to be somewhat happy, she was a total drag." They were all in the kitchen, Axel one side of the kitchen and Zexion on the other side.

Zexion visibly clenched his jaw.

"Axel…" Roxas said in warning.

Axel paid him no mind. "Come on Zexy admit it! You like the fact that she's gone."

Zexion shot him a glare. Axel smirked then walked over and bent down so that his face was right in front of Zexion, so close that their noses were almost touching.

"Admit it Zexy, she was a bitch and you're glad to see her gone."

Zexion snapped. With that one statement, all of Zexion's mounting worry and stressed finally broke and he lashed out, punching Axel straight in the face. Axel fell back, clutching his already healing nose.

"Don't ever call her that." Zexion muttered his voice low and furious. No one had ever seen Zexion this mad before, and they were all thinking how blessed they were that it wasn't directed at them.

"I'll call her whatever I want. I don't see her around to do anything, and none of you are gonna stop me, especially you short-fry." Axel snapped back. His nose had already healed.

Zexion snarled at him and in the blink of an eye they were fighting. They wrestled on the floor for a bit, then started punching. Axel hit Zexion a couple of times and Zexion managed to get a kick in. It didn't seem to occur to any of them to summon their weapons. Everyone ushered the girls out of the room before they got hurt, then proceeded to break up Axel and Zexion. Nothing they were doing was having an effect at all.

"Stop." That one simple word made the entire room freeze.

"If I knew that this would happen all because I left for a couple of days, I wouldn't have left." Emi said. She stood in the doorway, her arms crossed and a disappointed look on her face. Zexion immediately got up from where he was fighting Axel, dusting himself off but look he wouldn't look up from the floor. Emi sighed, but walked farther into the room. She stood in the middle of the room before she went right up and stood in front of Axel.

They stare at each other but neither of them made a move, almost like they were having their own private conversation. No one wanted to breathe in case they broke the sudden calm that seemed to dwell before the two.

Without warning, it all ended. Emi had kicked Axel's shin. He hopped around the room, cursing to himself. Emi smirked.

"Hey Axel?" She said, her voice sickly sweet. When he looked at her she plastered an obviously fake smile on. "Don't ever call me a bitch again."

Axel gave her an incredulous look, still tending to his leg. She walked away from him, leaving everyone else chuckling at his pain. Emi went to stand in front of Zexion next. He still hadn't looked up from the floor. Leaning down so that she was in his line of sight, she smiled at him. She brought her hands up and lifted his face so that he was looking at her from the normal angle.

"I wasn't gone that long was I?" She said. Zexion didn't respond, or even look like he was breathing for that matter. Emi looked uncertain for a second then leaned forward and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Thank you for defending me, Zexion." Emi left the kitchen leaving a stunned room of boys behind her. Then the girls walked in. They took one look at Zexion and started squealing to themselves.

"She did it-"

"I know, I can't believe-"

"Oh my God, look at his face! He's frozen!" All the girls turned at once before erupting into giggles, making Zexion blush.

"What are you guys talking about?" Roxas finally decided to interrupt.

"Well you see-"Xion started.

"Emi came out of nowhere and we explained what happened-"Kairi picked up next.

"We told her about Zexion doing that-"Namine interrupted.

"And then I told her that she should thank you with a kiss!" Kairi continued.

"We didn't think she would actually do that." Xion said.

"She really only came down to get some water." Namine finished.

"Emi said that she had been in the library this whole time. But she said that she was close to whatever it was that she wanted to figure out, so she'll be back soon!" Kairi decided to add.

-X-X-X-X-

Emi walked back to the library in a steady pace. Half way there she realized that she didn't get the one thing that she had wanted in the first place, the water. Shrugging her shoulders she continued to walk back to the library, figuring that she'll get it later.

She had been in the library for the past ten days, only emerging at night to get something to eat. She learned that she needed very few hours to sleep, only three or four hours. The rest of the time she spent researching the library.

Something was different with her. The moon seemed to have an unnatural effect on her. Ever since that night she had that nightmare, every time she saw the moon it would feel as if it was trying to pull her out of her body. Like there was something from another world trying to communicate with her.

Emi had begun to notice other things as well. It was like she was going through some kind of development. She could run so fast that everything else became a blur. She could see things as if time itself had stopped. Her magic skills soared through the roof.

When she hadn't been searching the library she had been practicing. Suddenly she was a master of all the elements, even fire the one that she couldn't do anything with the first time they were told about magic. Her illusions looked just like life. She could do black magic as well as white magic. Her ability to hear thoughts with Shiloh began to work so well that she didn't even need to be in the same room with him to hear others thoughts.

Whatever was going on with her, none of the others had felt this was. Everything was normal for them, or as normal you can get in a coven full of vampires. Emi knew that she could have just gone and asked Zexion, she was sure he knew what it was, but that just wasn't her. Something could be really wrong with her and Emi wanted to make sure that she knew what it was before she told Zexion about it.

There was only one part of the library that she hadn't been through yet. It had taken her ten days to search the entire two-story library. Whatever secret was happening to her she was sure that it lay on these shelves, in a forgotten and dusting book.

Something was happening to Emi, and she was determined to find out what it was.

* * *

**R&R **please! Tell me what you thought!


	18. Hidden Doorways and a book

New chapter! Took forever to get all the details right.

Enjoy!~

* * *

_Chapter 18: Hidden Doorways and a book_

_Wake me up inside,_

_Wake me up inside, _

_call my name and save me from the dark._

_-_ _Evanescence _

This section of the library was growing smaller and smaller with every passing hour. Every shelve scanned were of books that didn't matter. Nothing was even relating to the subject that she was looking for. She stopped sleeping; in her mind she was _so close._ It didn't cross her mind to do anything else. The answer was here, and Emi didn't let herself do anything else but look.

She slammed close another book, scowling. It had looked promising but turned out to be just another dead end. She had been on the last book shelf. She had looked in every single book that could possibly be related to what was going on with her.

Her mind and body were crying out for her to quit. She couldn't concentrate; her body was becoming heavier by the minute. But something told her that she was close and to sleep now was like to quit when she was so close. With a sigh she returned the book back to its original position. It was in the back corner of the library, right against the wall. When she put the book back on the shelf she let out an exhausted yawn. There was nowhere else to look. Glaring at the book she sighed at leaned against the only solid thing that was there, the wall.

Emi fell through the wall. With a shimmer it went back to looking like it did before, a concrete wall. Emi landed on her back, staring at the wall with confusion before it dawned on her. Zexion must have put an illusion on the passage way so that no one would find it. She reached up and waved her hand, making the illusion disappear. In front of her was a long hallway.

Taking a glance back to make sure no one was there, Emi continued down the large passage. There was no light, so Emi made a small bit of fire appear in the palm of her hand. It illuminated the hallway. It lead to a door. Turning the doorknob she entered the dark room. Inside it was a circular room. There were no other doors leading in or out, so there was only one entrance and exit. The walls had bookshelves lining them, but no books on them except for one single shelf. In the middle of the room was a wooden desk. The desk had a candle on it which quickly got the flame that Emi was still holding. The desk itself had nothing on it except a small book.

Emi moved to the single shelf of books. None of them had titles on them, and they all looked like journals. There were only six, but each one had a different color on it and a different handwriting. Deciding that she would save it for later Emi moved to the book that lay on the desk. While the cover had no title Emi found the title of the book quickly enough.

An Unabridged History. No author, just that title. After this page there was nothing written down, the entire book was blank. Letting out a sigh Emi collapsed into the chair behind the desk, leaving the book open in front of her.

"I just want to know what going on with me…" She said in a frustrated whisper before she put her head in her hands.

Emi didn't want to move, she was suddenly feeling the effects of not sleeping and eating. She would have fallen asleep if it hadn't been for the sound of pages turning.

The book in front of her was moving, the pages were turning on its own. The pages finally came to a stop, ending as soon as it began. When it stopped Emi leaned forward to look at the book at see that there was something written on it. Emi frowned, thinking about how it hadn't been there before. Still she reached forward and started reading.

_Choosing the new leaders._

_Though our vampire society has been around for almost as long as the humans, we have had very few leaders. Our leaders are chosen by the Goddess herself, and they are a vampire and his or her mate. The amount of leaders that we have chosen can be counted on one's hand, on average ruling for over seven hundred years. We cannot function without our leaders, so they rule everything. Though little is known about what qualifies the pair to be chosen we do know the symptoms to look for when the new pair is chosen. When the vampire and his mate finally meet, if they are the said pair to be chosen the current leaders will suddenly know that the new pair has come into being. _

_Our rulers are guarded at all times, because people are always looking out to kill them. Their word is law however, whatever the rulers say goes. Because of the Goddesses excellent choices, we have never had a corrupt leader that ever did anything to purposefully harm humans or vampires. _

_When a new mate and vampire leaders are found these symptoms will mark them as separate from everyone else. _

_Symptoms to look out for:_

_1. There will be sudden developments in the human. Said humans abilities will be increased and they will be able to accomplish a lot more._

_2. The said pair will never loose in a fight_

_3. The human will be able to do all kinds of magic._

_4. They will be able to work will all the elements with elemental magic. _

_5. They will be able to see as if they are two steps ahead of the world._

_6. Whatever ability is acquired through the familiar will have no limits._

_7. Both in the pair will have a pull towards the moon, even if it isn't their element._

_These symptoms are usually all there although there have been a couple of cases where they didn't have one or two of the abilities stated above. The Goddess never makes a bad decision, and when she appears to the pair even when they are skeptical they still make a good duo for running the society. _

_The way of having a pair run our society has been there since Xehanort was first created. The current leaders right now are Cloud and Leon. _

As soon as Emi read the last word, the book slammed shut. When she opened it again, the paged were all blank. Sighing she closed the book and left it on the table. Emi gathered her bag from the main library room, and went back to the hidden room.

There she put the now blank book in her bag, along with the six journals. Emi was still confused but everything all made sense. She didn't know what to think about this new information, or how to act on it. It fit all of her symptoms and it fit everything that she had wondered. All of her questions were answered with this new information, every symptom that she had was what the book said.

Emi didn't know if she could run a whole society, through her whole life she all Emi had to ever worry about was keeping herself and her sister safe, if this was true she would also have to run a whole society of vampires. Putting the illusion on the wall again to hide the entryway, she went into the library sitting area, putting her bag down on the table.

Emi went over to the window. It showed the heart shaped moon hanging in the sky. Soon enough the tugging to let herself go came again.

Staring at the moon, Emi finally let herself relax and give way to the pull of the moon.

* * *

Well what do you think? Love it? Hate it? R&R now and tell me!


	19. Selene

Look 19 chapters!

Its not even halfway done...

Lol whatever, I'll be done soon!

Enjoy!~

* * *

_Chapter 19: Selene_

_I'm a freedom rider not the great decider_

_I might be a little_

_Crazy but I don't want to rule the world_

_-RAMI_

The moon was calling her, feeling as though it was trying to take her soul right out of her body. Every time she had resisted, but now, after reading that book, it seemed like the only action she had left. Emi had to find out the truth. She could feel herself leaving her body.

If what the book said was true, then this meant she would be the new leader of the society, that right now it was the moon Goddess herself trying to contact her. If it wasn't true then there really was something wrong with her.

It was like she was floating. Her mind wasn't with her body anymore; she was gone away from the castle and away from Axel and the girls that like to gossip. Even though she knew that it this could be something that was different from what she thought it would be, a sense of peace was with her.

It was dark. She didn't remember closing her eyes but there was no more light. Still there was peace though. Emi could have stayed there her whole life and never would have thought about it again. But it couldn't last forever. Suddenly light shined through the darkness and Emi found herself in a room. One side was dark as night the other side light as day. Even with the contrast they both had the exact same contents and looked the exact same. Sitting right in the middle of where the light changed to dark was a throne. A woman sat on it.

"Ah there you are, it took you a long time to respond child." She said, walking forward.

Her skin was milky white, almost unnaturally pale. Her hair was black, darker than the darkest of nights. Her eyes were bright silver. She wore a long gown that touched the floor; it seemed to flow with her every movement. It had loose sleeves that reached her wrists, and a heart shaped collar. She was barefooted, not even wearing socks. Finally she reached where Emi was standing, stopping right in front of her. She was about a head taller than Emi.

"Welcome my child to my home." Emi just stared.

"You are probably wondering what you are doing here, Emi. My name is Selene; I am the Goddess who appeared to Xehanort when he first became a vampire. I am the Goddess who looks after the children of the night." Emi still just stared; she didn't know what to say.

"Well, say something." Selene tried.

After staring for a while longer Emi decided she couldn't stay silent any longer. "Well that's nice and everything, but why am I here?" She said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Selene smiled then tugged on Emi's arms to get them loose. "Don't worry my child, nothing can harm you here. You are here because of what the book said, you will be the next one to rule the vampire society." Emi let her arms go limp in shock; she didn't want to rule and all of the sudden this woman was telling her she had to. Selene gently held her wrist.

"All these scars on your body, every mark your father left on you, I saw it all. I watched it all since your mother died. I made sure he never killed you; I always made sure that your body lived through with it. And you did. You lived through the worst times; you suffered like that all to keep your sister safe, to make sure that she never went through what you did. Even when Vanitas-"

"Don't say his name!" Emi yanked her hand out of her grasp and stepped back.

Selene looked pityingly at her. "You might not like it but this will happen, you and Zexion will rule. You will have to face what happened to you. Those scars on your body are only there now because you notice them. Child, Emi, you need to tell Zexion what happened to you."

"What? Why should I? I've barely know him for a month." Emi snapped at her. Selene didn't bat an eye.

"Whether you like it or not you two are connected, and you do like him. And you two will rule, no matter what. You need to tell him child because even though you have known him for a month you two are connected, in ways neither of you can imagine." Selene said, ever calmly. She never raised her voice and she said it all like she was trying to explain where babies came from to a child.

Emi just stood there with her arms crossed, not wanting to believe this was actually happening.

"Why should I believe you that this is actually happening? And why would I do what you're saying anyway? She eventually said.

"Child you will do this and you will listen to me because it all makes sense. What's been happening to you and your pull to the moon isn't by coincidence, it's because you are chosen. And you will do what I say because you will eventually tell Zexion eventually so you might as well now."

Emi sighed, she didn't know where she was and she needed to get back to the castle and she was beginning to think that it was only going to happen if she agreed.

"Alright, fine. I'll tell him. Just let me go back." Emi finally gave in.

Selene smiled. "That's great child, now just a couple of things. One you have to tell Zexion in a weeks' time. Two, those six books that you found should be read soon. Third, this is not a dream and when you get back to the castle your proof will be that your tattoo will be larger. Finally, avoid Axel." Selene finished.

Emi opened her mouth to ask about that last one, she knew not to trust Axel but she wanted to hear Selene's reasoning, but before she could darkness was all around her and then she was right back in the library, still standing at the same window.

It was like she hadn't even left. The only difference was that the moon didn't try to pull her out of her body like it always had before. Sighing for what felt like the millionth time that day she gathered her bag and headed towards her room, looking forward to sleeping.

Before she could collapse on the bed she noticed that Zexion was already there asleep. She placed her bag down and then went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. When she was about to leave the bathroom, something caught her eye.

Her tattoo had _grown_ just like Selene had said. Now it reached the area by her heart, and on her back it reached the center of her back. It had crawled up her neck and started on the lobe of her ear. Finally it reached the middle of her bicep. Mumbling to herself about creating an illusion for it in the morning, Emi yawned and made her way onto the bed. She fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow but not without one last thought.

_How am I supposed to tell Zexion?_

* * *

Ohhhh how is she gonna tell him?

I already have it written in my mind.

Love it? Hate it? Tell me! **R&R please**_  
_


	20. Secrets

This took forever to write.

Enjoy~

* * *

_Chapter 20: Secrets_

_I'm Gonna give all my secrets away_

_-Onerepublic_

Emi didn't want to wake up. She could tell that she had been sleeping for a while though, a lot longer then she probably should have been. The only thing that prompted her to open her eyes though, was the sound of Shiloh whining and the sound of Zexion trying to hush him.

"Shiloh, shush. She's been awake for 2 days obviously she needs the sleep." Zexion said. Shiloh let out a whine again but this time he at a lower volume.

Emi opened her eyes finally, seeing Shiloh right next to her bed and Zexion sat at the window, reading his book. Shiloh let out a bark of excitement and jumped into her lap, licking her face. Zexion smile before setting his book down. Calming Shiloh down, Emi headed into the bathroom to freshen up and to think about how to tell Zexion.

When Emi reemerged, Zexion was sitting on the bed, Shiloh next to him. Emi went and sat in the recently vacated window. Shiloh came and laid down next to her, placing his head in her lap.

"We need to talk." She said.

Emi told him everything. About what she had been searching for, why she had been gone, what she had found and finally the meeting with Selene. Zexion took it all in, not once questioning her or interrupting. He did seem to believe her though.

"Do you believe me?"

"I do."

Emi let out the breathe she didn't now she had been holding. "There is one more thing though." Zexion just waited. "I need to tell you something's about my past." Zexion made a motion for her to continue.

"Well it all started when I was five years old."

_~Flashback start~_

"_Mommy where are we going?" Five year old Emi asked. _

"_It's a surprise hunny." She responded back. Her eyes were dead straight ahead on the road before her. It was a bright and sunny day, the middle of the afternoon._

_Emi was so confused. Out of nowhere her mom had come and pulled her and her sister, Namine, out of school and put them in the car. She had no idea of where she was going or what was going on her mom hadn't said anything other than that it was a surprise. The car was filled to the brim with bags and boxes and her mom looked worried out of her mind. Namine was sound asleep in her car seat, sleeping at what would have normally been her naptime in class. _

_Her mom looked worried out of her mind. She kept looking around her and behind her, constantly checking her rearview mirror for anything behind her. While the road had cars every time she looked behind her, Emi saw nothing that she should be worried about. _

"_Mommy what's wrong? Where are we going?" Emi asked again. Her mom let out a sigh._

"_Um, well you see….were going…. Oh I know, were going on a vacation!" Her mom said. _

"_Really Mommy, where to?"_

"_That's the surprise. But if you keep asking me where were going we might never get there. I mean you don't want the surprise to be ruined do you?" She finished. _

"_Okay Mommy, I won't ask anymore." Emi said with a smile. She settled into her seat and looked out the window instead._

_Her mom finally took her eyes off the road to look at her two daughters. She smiled but there was something hidden in that smile, a hidden secret. _

_Outside the car was nice, it was bright, joyful and other kids were seen playing in the street as well. Emi smiled at all the bustling activity. It was better than her school where everything was confined and scheduled. Her mom slowly moved forward. _

_The loud sounds of screeching were heard. Then there was the sound of metal on metal, the entire car jerked to the side. All the glass windows in the car splintered and fell into the car, cutting everyone. Emi felt the pain from the scratches and saw that her arms were bleeding. When the car finally stopped moving she looked to ask her mom what had just happened._

"_Mommy?" _

_Her mom didn't stir at all. She lay slummed across the steering wheel. Emi unbuckled her seatbelt and slowly crawled to the front of the car where her mom was. She shook her shoulder. Her mom's eyes blearily opened. _

"_Mommy? What's wrong? Are you okay?" Panic rose up inside of her as she saw her mom blink once more and then slowly blood started to drip down into her face. _

"_Emi…..protect your sister…" She breathed raggedly for a second. "I'm sorry that…..I couldn't protect you." Her eyes closed again. When they didn't rise again Emi started to cry. _

"_Mommy? Mom please open your eyes! Please Mom!"_

~_Flashback end~_

"When I was five my mom died when a drunk driver hit the car. He was uninjured, so were me and Namine. My mom though died just minutes after the accident. Little did I know that this was only the beginning of the tragedies we would have to face."

_~Flashback start~_

_An older Emi walked with her still young sister Namine down a hallway. Emi was ten, Namine was barely 7. Namine still wore her sundress, just a smaller version. Emi wore a baggy t-shirt that came down to her knees. _

_After putting her sister into her room, Emi went up all the stairs to where her father was waiting. Even though she was young, she knew that her father was the person that their mother was running from. He had gotten custody of them when she had died, leaving them both in the care of someone who could not love. _

_Emi knocked on the door, hearing a barely audible 'come in'. She walked in to see her father behind a desk, shifting through paperwork. He grinned sadistically when she walked in._

"_Ah Emi, good to see you. Now how long have you been here with your sister?" _

"_We've been here five years sir." He always made them call him sir, in private or in public. Emi quickly learned what would happen if she didn't. _

"_That's a long time; don't you think you and Namine should be earning your keep here?" Emi nodded, knowing not to disobey him. _

"_Great, as of tomorrow you will be working as a waitress to earn your life here." Emi nodded and then left._

_Emi knew what happened to the waitresses did here. The women were nice but the men were always weird, touching her in places that she didn't like. But he had to protect her sister, and if that meant working as a waitress and letting those bad men touch her she would. _

_~Flashback end~_

"At the age of ten my father made me work for him as a waitress. Every day I was molested constantly. I wasn't allowed to defend myself; if I did I would get beaten. Things only got worse. But still I made sure that Namine never went through what I had to go through, that she never saw any of the horrors that I saw." Zexion still didn't interrupt.

"When I was fifteen I managed to convince my father to let me and Namine go to school. There we met all of the friends that we have today. They all knew how bad my situation was, but none of them thought that it would get worse. It did. I didn't tell anyone. I was close to getting Namine out of the house; I wasn't going to jeopardize it by telling people things had gotten worse."

_~Flashback start~_

"_Guys don't worry I'm fine. Namine could you spend the night at Kairi's tonight?" Namine nodded, she never questioned her sister. _

"_Good well I am off then." She said before leaving._

_When Emi got to the place she was forced to call home she was confronted by her father. He dragged her upstairs, cursing about how she was late. He threw her into a room, where a man was waiting for her. _

"_You're the girl? How old are you?" He asked as he came closer. He ran his hand along her cheek._

"_15." She responded curtly. _

"_Hm, you'll do nicely." He didn't say another word; he just started to touch her._

_He kissed Emi roughly, forcing his tongue inside her mouth. He was pulling at her shirt, trying to undo all the buttons and get it off her. Emi fought roughly, trying to push the man off her. Nothing could budge him. He laughed at her efforts, and threw her easily onto the bed. Emi still fought, kicking and trying to punch, but he pinned her wrists above her head and straddled her, leaving her helpless. _

_Emi finally looked up at him. He had bright green eyes and flame red hair. Emi knew this man. His name was Reno and he was a frequent visitor of her father's brothels. He had always made a pass at her but she had always ignored him. _

_No matter what Emi did, no matter how hard she fought, screamed, kicked and punched, nothing got her free. _

_Her last bit of innocence was stolen from her. _

_~Flashback end~_

"I was raped. No other person could get past my defenses. I would always either be able to fight them off or they would get to scared. He was the only person. Reno would some to see me at least twice a month, he never left me alone." She wasn't looking at Zexion anymore, instead she looked at Shiloh's head in her lap.

"Zexion, the reason that me and Axel don't get along is because he is Reno. If he changes his hair a bit and covers up his tattoos then they look the exact same. I know you probably won't believe me but it's true."

"I lived for two years like that with Reno's abuse. I finally thought I had found an escape, but I was wrong."

_~Flashback start~_

_After that Emi almost collapsed into herself. She only talked to her sister, she wouldn't be around people. It was like she was giving up. None of her friends knew what to do to help her. The thing was it wasn't any of her friends at the time that were going to be able to help her._

_There was a kid in school names Vanitas. He was the exact same as her, though a lot meaner to people. He had an air of arrogance instead of depression. When Emi would get away from people at school, she would always go to the most deserted place, the place where Vanitas was. They didn't talk for months, until after spending months together before school, lunch and after school, Vanitas noticed that she started coming to school with more bruises and more cuts on her._

_He finally confronted her about it. She explained everything, told him things that he had never told anyone about. She told him about her father's abuse, about Reno, about everything. Emi had never seen him so mad before. After she was done he insisted that she had to get out of there, that she and Namine could come and live with him. Though she resisted at first, she eventually gave in._

_That night they had Namine stay at Kairi's house while Vanitas took Emi to her house to gather as much as she could of her belongings and clothes. He waited outside while she did this, though Vanitas noticed she had left her keys with him. He found his way to her to give it back when things started to go bad._

"_Well what do we have here?" Emi's father stood in the doorway, holding a gun in his hands. "You young man wouldn't be thinking of taking my daughter away now would you?" Vanitas stood in front of Emi, blocking her from attack._

"_Yes I was." He said without fear. Her father smirked before firing the gun._

"_Vanitas!" Emi cried, falling to her knees beside him. He was bleeding to death, and Emi held him as he took his last breathes. _

"_Don't you ever try to leave this house again Emi." Then he left, putting his gun away like he hadn't actually just shot someone._

_Emi didn't respond, instead she closed Vanitas' eyes and chanted softly over and over again._

"_I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"_

_~Flashback end~_

"He died; in my arms he died, just for trying to protect me."

Emi couldn't take it anymore. Every bad thing she had ever gone through, everything was all coming back to her in one monsoon of a wave that she couldn't handle. As if sensing what was going to happen, Zexion came and sat down next to her.

Emi had lived through her mother's death, she lived through abuse and sexual harassment, she had lived through getting raped, she had lived through a death of someone just trying to protect her.

For the second time in her life since her mother died, Emi cried.

* * *

Ha! I bet your weren't expecting that! Let me make somethings clear if you didnt get them, just a summary.

Emi's mother dies, then she and Namine go to live with their father. He abuses them and makes it so that Emi constantly gets molested by his customers. (Basically he owns a big brothel). Emi gets raped at 15 by a man named Reno, who is really just Axel is disguise. Then Emi meets Vanitas and he tries to get her away but dies in the process, making Emi loose all hope until the vampires come along and take them away.

Any questions? Do you love it? Hate it? Is it just average? **R&R and tell me!**


	21. A Song

I like this chapter. Thats all I have to say though, so I'll let you read.

Enjoy!~

* * *

_Chapter 21: A Song_

"_Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back."_

_-Plato_

Zexion looked down at girl cradled in his lap. Emi had cried herself to sleep. She looked so sad to him and staring down at her he felt a wave of possession coming over him. He vowed to himself that he would track down every man that ever hurt her or touched her and rip them to shreds.

"I swear, no one will ever harm you again." He said to her. She stirred in her sleep, muttering something unintelligible before burrowing herself farther into his lap. He gave a small smile before stroking her hair softly.

He thought about everything she had said. Losing her mother at such a young age must have been traumatizing but to also have to watch her die…no one should ever have to go through that. Then to go through years of abuse and rape…part of him didn't know how she had made it. But he knew she was strong. He knew that she could make it through anything. But no one should have to go through so much. No one should be subjugated to that kind of torture. Zexion felt himself growing angry when he thought of how when finally someone tried to save her he was killed.

But there was something else that had bothered him; she said she had met the Goddess herself. Emi had said that the Goddess said they were meant to rule over the society. It was one of the most outrageous things he had ever heard. It sounded like she made it up.

Even though it was outlandish and ridiculous he knew he had believed her the moment she said it.

It took Emi two days to feel comfortable enough to leave their room. Even then it was only at the insistence of Zexion saying that they were going on an outing. She finally went around other people, letting Zexion breathe in relief. Emi went around the others like she had never been gone, and like nothing was bugging her.

It turned out that the 'outing' that Zexion had talked about was all the girls getting the feeling of being cooped up and they insisted that they go somewhere. That somewhere turned out to be a bar. Apparently the vampires come to feed here once a week and the girls insisted in going along. Emi didn't really want to go along but did anyway.

The bar was crowded, not letting them stay in the large group they came in as. Zexion stuck to Emi like glue as she went to the bar and ordered a drink. The bartender just got her her drink not even asking for an I.D. Both of them watched as the girls converged into a corner with Saïx, practically dragging him along though. Even though they tried to have a 'girl's night' they couldn't help but look at their guys. Jealousy grew in their eyes as they watched the guys seduce girls to feed. Emi just snickered.

At Zexion's glance she explained. "The girls and Saïx are really insanely jealous right now but are trying to hide it. The boys feel guilty almost. It's just funny." Zexion smirked.

They didn't talk after that. They just sat at the bar, enjoying each other's company and watching other people. No one would come near Emi with Zexion near her, and anyone stupid enough to try would either get a look of death or they would get punched.

By midnight the girls had finally loosened up, and managed to locate a karaoke machine somewhere. They took turns singing and even managed to get a drunken Saïx to sing a song. After Kairi went for the third time, Namine came and tried to get Emi to sing. After begging for a good ten minutes and a lot of encouragement from Zexion she finally went and started to pick out a song.

_How can you see into my eyes like open doors?  
Leading you down into my core where I've become so numb  
Without a soul my spirit sleeping somewhere cold  
until you find it there and lead it back home_

_(Wake me up)_  
_Wake me up inside_  
_(I can't wake up)_  
_Wake me up inside_  
_(Save me)_  
_call my name and save me from the dark_  
_(Wake me up)_  
_bid my blood to run_  
_(I can't wake up)_  
_before I come undone_  
_(Save me)_  
_save me from the nothing I've become_

_now that I know what I'm without_  
_you can't just leave me_  
_breathe into me and make me real_  
_bring me to life_

_(Wake me up)_  
_Wake me up inside_  
_(I can't wake up)_  
_Wake me up inside_  
_(Save me)_  
_call my name and save me from the dark_  
_(Wake me up)_  
_bid my blood to run_  
_(I can't wake up)_  
_before I come undone_  
_(Save me)_  
_save me from the nothing I've become_

_Bring me to life_  
_(I've been living a lie, there's nothing inside)_  
_Bring me to life_

_frozen inside without your touch_  
_Without your love, darling_  
_only you are the life among the dead_

_all this time I can't believe I couldn't see_  
_kept in the dark but you were there in front of me_  
_I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems_  
_got to open my eyes to everything_  
_Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul_  
_don't let me die here_  
_there must be something more_  
_bring me to life_

_(Wake me up)_  
_Wake me up inside_  
_(I can't wake up)_  
_Wake me up inside_  
_(Save me)_  
_call my name and save me from the dark_  
_(Wake me up)_  
_bid my blood to run_  
_(I can't wake up)_  
_before I come undone_  
_(Save me)_  
_save me from the nothing I've become_

_(Bring me to life)_  
_I've been living a lie, there's nothing inside_  
_(Bring me to life)_

The song finally ended. Emi's world of song ended and she turned back into a crowded bar, all of them paying her no heed. After her friends told her about how good she was, Emi moved back to where she had been sitting with Zexion.

This time they did talk about things. They talked about her singing they talked about random incidents, they talked about the weather. It was just nice for the both of them to talk about something light, a nice change from all the serious talk that they had had the other day. The rest the night was just fun. And dragging three drunken girls and a drunken Saïx back to the castle.

* * *

I want to meet a drunk Saïx, i think it might be funny.

Well Love it? Hate it? **R & R and tell me!**


	22. Giving in

This chapter took forever to write, but I am really happy with it! I hope you guys like it!

Enjoy!~

* * *

_Chapter 22: Giving in_

_I might be a little  
Crazy but I don't want to rule the world_

_-Rami_

"Emi we need to talk about this."

No response. Not even a change at all. Zexion sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that hour alone. She just wouldn't listen to him, refusing to even look at him to avoid talking.

"You can't just ignore this! We need to talk about what you think and feel about what the Goddess said."

Just when he thought that she wasn't going to respond, she finally looked at him.

"I thought girls were supposed to be the ones about all this feelings crap." Emi harshly said. Zexion finally snapped and gave her his hardest glare. People had told him before that it could melt through walls.

"I wouldn't have to if you would just open up and finally talked!" He said coldly. The look on his face could have killed someone.

"You want to know what I think? I think that this is fucked up. I don't want to rule, I never have and I never will. I have worked my whole life to get to a point in my life where Namine and I are finally safe, and I'll go to hell before I give that up. If we start ruling, or even trying, all that it's going to be is a lot of responsibility and people constantly fighting us or trying to kill us. I'm sick of it and I really don't think it's too much to ask to be left alone for the rest of my life. I might seem crazy to you but the last thing that I want to do is rule this fucked up world."

Thunder and lightning crashed across the sky. Emphasizing her last words. Just a few minutes earlier the sky had been clear.

"I think she heard you." Zexion said before the room was engulfed in pure white light.

Neither of them could see anything. The light burned their eyes, but closing them didn't help, almost like the light was inside their eyes. Everything around them seemed to grow dull; the silence was heavy all around them. There was no longer a smell either. Zexion's room always had the scent of old books, but now even that was gone. After what seemed like ages, the light slowly faded. There standing in front of them, looking the exact same was Selene. While Zexion stared around the room balanced in light and dark, Emi sent Selene a cold glare.

"I heard what you said child."

She had such a disappointed look on her face, like a mother when they catch their child when they do something wrong. On the inside Emi wanted to apologize, but instead she kept glaring. When she didn't stop Selene just sighed and turned to Zexion.

"I see that you have had no luck, child." Zexion let out his own sigh.

"You have no idea. It took hours to get her to talk about it."

Selene smiled and sat down in her thrown. "You two need to listen. Now I have chosen both of you to rule, but of course I am never without a plan B. So Emi, if you really don't want to rule then there is another pair."

"What would we have to do?" Zexion asked, before Emi could automatically agree.

"Your jobs would be to keep order, to make sure that they humans do not find out about the vampires, to make sure that no crimes are committed, and to just keep a balance of everything." Then there was silence. No one wanted to say anything. But it wasn't an oppressive silence, both Emi and Zexion were thinking, and Selene had all the time in the world.

"Who….who would be leading if we didn't?" Emi finally asked.

"Unfortunately the only other person who has even the remotely same bond as you two and has gone through the same experiences is your sister Namine, and Riku." She said with a sigh. Emi went pale.

Emi stared at the floor, biting her lip. She didn't want to lead but she didn't want to put her sister through this. She had no idea what to do. Emi looked at Zexion, for any sign of what to do. He gave her a small smile, telling her with that small action that he was okay with whatever she decided. Slowly letting her breathe out, Emi came to her decision.

"We'll do it." Selene looked surprised.

"What happened to not wanting to?" Selene questioned.

"I would rather have myself go through this than put my sister through it." That was all she would say.

After that Selene was as happy as a clam, but Emi didn't say a word, just keeping quiet until they could leave. Selene just had one rule, that they couldn't tell anyone what was happening until she told them. As soon as they agreed, they found themselves in their room, like they had never left.

Emi covered her face in her hands, fighting the urge to cry. She hated this, being forced into something that she didn't want to do. But at the same time, she didn't want her sister to have to take on the responsibility. Emi was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice that Zexion was sitting next to her. In a flash Zexion pulled her close to him, so that her head was resting on his chest.

"It's going to be okay." With those words Emi finally broke down and started crying.

She didn't know how long she cried for, but all the time that she did Zexion let her cry on his chest, probably ruining his cloak, while murmuring words of comfort to her. Finally when the crying slowed down, Emi made herself stop, feeling like she had cried about this for long enough.

She pulled away, wiping her eyes. Emi looked up at Zexion, her eyes still blurry from rubbing them and crying. Zexion leaned forward and lightly kissed her forehead, holding her face in his hands. Emi let her eyes slip close, enjoying the contact.

When Zexion pulled back, Emi still didn't open her eyes. Instead she buried her face into the crook of his neck and laid down on his chest. Zexion wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her head.

"I love you." Emi just barely whispered. Burying her face, if possible, even farther into his neck.

"I love you to." Zexion said, tightening his arms around her.

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Well what did you think? **R&R please!**


	23. Journals

So no I am not dead, but I do have a lot to publish.

One thing you have to know about KH for this chapter is the original names of the nobodies. I'll list them here in case you dont know them.

Xehanort: Xemnas

Braig: Xigbar

Xaldin: Dilan

Vexen: Even

Lexaeus: Aeleus

Zexion: Ienzo

And that is all I have to say.

Enjoy!~

* * *

_Chapter 23: Journals  
_

_Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own. _

_~William Hazlitt_

* * *

They didn't see each other for a week after that. When Emi woke up she found herself alone, with Zexion gone. Later she found out that he had departed on a mission. She took her time slowly getting to know the other people in the castle and making up missed time with her sister.

Zexion was gone almost all hours of the day, leaving early in the morning and then arriving late at night. Every day he arrived back to the caste he was too tired to do anything but collapse and immediately fall to asleep. Then by the time that Emi woke up he was already gone off on another mission.

Emi didn't know how to feel. On one hand she felt worried and sad, worried that he was going to get hurt on his missions and sad that he wasn't there with her. On the other hand she felt angry at herself for feeling sad, telling herself that she cant keep him all to herself.

That one-week that went by slipped by slowly. There was nothing to do, nothing to pass the time with. She wasn't the only one that was bored though, so seemed to be everyone else. Everyone searched for something to do.

Emi was in her room searching through everything for some sort of entertainment. She had searched through every single one of her bags, and had even looked through Zexions books for something to read. Emi suddenly remembered her bag that she had brought with her to the library. She remembered how there were the six journals in there, still an unread mystery. Emi eventually found it her bag under the bed.

The six journals were still in there, a bit abused from being shoved into her bag. She pulled each one of them out carefully, now realizing that these journals could be very important, and they could be very old. Slowly Emi picked up the first one, a journal with a black cover.

_Xehanort._

It was inscribed on the very first page that she had opened. She flipped to the next page, her curiosity getting the better of her. She flipped to the very last entry.

Our experiments are getting better. The hearts are reacting well, and soon we may be able to see just what happens to a heart when it's changed. If it wasn't for Ienzo convincing Ansem that this is important, we wouldn't be able to do these experiments.

_I need to fins out what happens to hearts. Who knows what this could mean for society when we can finally say what actually happens to a person when they are changed to a vampire. They wouldn't have to be afraid anymore and they could feel free to become a vampire themselves. _

_But the vampires that we have in custody are beginning to act differently. I fear that they are not going to comply like they were in the beginning. Well that's a given seeing as how this experiment was only supposed to last a couple of months, but now it's lasted years. If they do try to do something I fear of what will happen to my fellow apprentices and me. The vampires could easily overpower us and choose to kill us all._

_Ansem still disapproves but he only knows very little of what we do. But what he doesn't know won't hurt him. _

That was all. The date said January 15, but it had no year. Emi sat aside that one and moved onto the next journal.

It also had what she assumed to be a name inscribed on the first page.

Braig

Emi flipped to the last page as well. The date said it was January 15 as well.

The Old Man is starting to get suspicious. Well whatever we've been doing this for years and we haven't gotten caught yet. Xeh-Xeh keeps saying that we have to end the experiment but whatever, its not like were going to be stupid and let those vamps out.

_The vamps have been acting differently lately but that's nothing that I can't handle, but maybe its time to get some new vamps. Then we could all relax and forget about these experiments. _

_How these vamps change is none of our business. It's something that we shouldn't be messing with and could become bad for us. If the slightest thing goes wrong, those vamps wouldn't hesitate to kill all of us. _

_Maybe Xeh-Xeh is right, but it's not about ending the experiments, it's about getting out of this hole we have dug alive. If we let the vamps go, they wont hesitate to kill us, but if we keep them here as prisoners then its doing us no good. Soon we wont be able to do anything without them rebelling. _

_All right, _Emi thought,_ we have our background. Whoever these people were they were keeping vampires hostage to do experiments about what happens to their heart after they change from a human to a vampire. Something must have happened after January 15. Something bad must have happened._

Emi picked up the next journal. This one was a deep purple color.

_Dilan _was inscribed on the first page. Emi didn't hesitate to flip to the last page. Its last date was January 12 though.

Lately the vampires have been rebelling. It's nothing that Alaeus and me can't handle, but it's been different from their normal behavior. Xehanort says to not worry about it, but I do believe I am right in worrying.

If they rebel like this right now, how will they react towards us when we finally let them go?

This entry was very short, as were all the other entries in the journal. Emi picked up the next journal; it was a light ice blue color.

_Even, _was the name written on the inside of this journal. Emi flipped to the last entry as well. It had the date of January 15.

Our experiments are going well, but I feel like I can't get any more information out of just looking. I need one of the vampires to tell me exactly what they remember from when they change from human to vampire. They all claim not to remember but something tells me that they are willingly withholding this information from me. But what can I do to get this from them?

Something interesting happened today. I was trying a new experiment, one that I knew that was going to be exceptionally painful. As I preformed it on the vampire, he started to curse all of our names, saying 'Soon, soon you will know the pain we have gone through! Then you will be the ones tormented and abused, not accepted by anyone!'

These words caused a chill to go down my spine, but I ignored him and continued with my work. Maybe I should have paid more attention to his words. But ah well, what can he do? We outnumber them and they are our prisoners. There is nothing they can do.

I need to tell Xehanort about what the vampire said, but I don't think it will make that much of a difference.

The next journal was a earth-toned brown. It looked like it hadn't been touched very often, and whoever did write in probably hardly wrote at all.

Alaeus

January 15.

I have the overwhelming sense that something is going to go wrong.

And that was it. Just that one sentence. It seemed more and more obvious that something must have happened either on January 15 or right after it. Every single person had a sense that something bad was going to go wrong, but they had all ignored it. With a sense of dread and curiosity she picked up the last journal, an indigo blue one.

Ienzo

It had a different date! Instead this one was labeled January 16, the day after all the others. Emi couldn't pry her eyes from the book.

Oh God what have we done? Everyone is dead, and their looking for me.

T he vampires finally got free. I don't know how they did it, but they did, I think everyone else is dead. I couldn't check because they yelled at me to run. I don't know how much more time I have left, the vampires are searching for me as I write this. I can hear their footsteps running around me, searching in every place they can find.

They shouldn't find me for a while; I'm safe for now.

The day had started out innocently enough; we were doing experiments that were no different from any of the other ones. But they decided to fight back, and we didn't stand a chance. The vampires had obviously planned out their attack for who knows how long, but every defense that we had was useless.

Even was first, they ripped his throat out, and his blood gushed everywhere. The vampire let his friends out, then he went back to attach himself to Evens throat. Braig tried to get him off, but then he was attacked. A girl attacked his throat as well. Then everyone was being attacked but me. No one had noticed me, and then Alaeus yelled at me to run. So I did. I ran as far and as fast as I could. I got to my hidden place the place that only I knew about.

But now they're running around, trying to find me. The only one of the apprentices still alive. Who knows what they will do to Ansem when they find him, even though he doesn't know anything that we have been doing. I don't know if anyone is still alive and I don't know if I will be able to make it out alive. All I can do now is hide, and hope that they don't find me.

Oh God I can hear them, they've found me! They're opening the door. If anyone finds this my name is Ienzo and I'm sorry for what me and my fellow apprentices have don-

Then there was a long line of ink along the paper where the pen had obviously dragged across the paper. Emi stared at in wonderment, not wanting to think about what had probably happened to poor Ienzo and the other apprentices. Slowly she put all the books back into her bag and then put her bag back under the bed.

Emi started to think about what she had read and about the journals itself. Questions like 'who were they' and 'why their journals were in the library in the first place' kept going through their minds.

But she had no answers, only more questions. She spent what felt like hours on her bed thinking about her questions. She couldn't help but let her mind wander to what Ienzo had written. She thought about the fear he must have felt, how he was all alone and the only people in the room hated him so much. She felt so sorry for him, and for all of the others. No one should have done what they did, but at the same time no one should have to die that way as well.

It wasn't until Emi heard the door open that she was broken out of her thoughts. Inside the doorway was Zexion, just standing there. When he saw that Emi was awake he motioned her to follow, obviously fatigued by whatever mission he had just come back form. They used a portal to get to the meeting room, where everyone else already was waiting for them.

"Good now that were all here, I have some news." Xemnas paused to make sure he had everyone's attention.

"I have just been informed by the head honchos themselves that starting in two days there will be trials going on to determine who will be the next leader of the vampiric society. Apparently they have just been informed by the Goddess herself that the next couple has been chosen and is ready to take over for them. Any questions?" he asked.

Of course there were questions; Emi was the only one who knew about how their society ran. When Xemnas saw every one of the human's hands up he just sighed.

"How about this I will give a brief explanation and then if that doesn't answer you questions then you can ask them." He got nods.

So then Xemnas proceeded to explain how the vampiric society worked. But Emi and Zexion were staring at each other, having their own telepathic conversation.

How the hell are we supposed to hide this? Emi thought.

Lets just see how things go. He thought back.

Emi gave a nod in response, and then found herself thinking about the journals again. Emi thought about what they were going to do, and about what she had learned. She didn't even notice that the meeting had ended until she felt Zexion pull on her arm, urging her to go into the portal back into their room. When they got there they didn't even say a word, both to tired to speak but for different reasons.

* * *

I read a story and at the end they would always put 'It may continue' and it just really bugged me, I mean come on just commit or tell me if you wont. So I promise you this story will continue! *epic pose*

**R&R please! Tell me what you thought!**


	24. How I became who I am now

Another update!

Enjoy!~

* * *

_Chapter 24: How I became who I am now_

_"It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone."_

_Rose Kennedy_

"Alright every single pair here will be tested and there will be no exceptions." The voiced said, dreadfully bored. Apparently he had already been to 3 other covens and there had been no results. He didn't expect any form this coven either. He seemed to be right so far.

Both Riku and Namine and Roxas and Xion had failed their tests. It was down to Sora and Kairi and Emi and Zexion.

Their familiars were allowed to be in the challenges to help them win, since they were facing something that was supposed to be their biggest weakness. Kairi had to fight and win, while Sora had to complete a logic puzzle within a certain time limit. Either way neither of them were allowed to loose their match, and if one lost they both automatically lost. No one was more surprised than the evaluator when they both won their challenges. Sora was practically jumping up and down for joy, while Kairi looked extremely proud of both herself and Sora.

When it all came down to it though, no one was really surprised that Sora had managed to win. He had always managed to come through when he knew it was important and he always would do his best when it was for the benefit of other people. Kairi was so excited that she actually ran up and hugged him in front of everyone. Not that anyone minded, but it became this unwritten rule that if you want to show affection you do it in private. When Kairi did that though Sora actually blushed and then hugged her back, looking like one of the happiest guys on earth. Then before they knew it, it was Zexion and Emi's turn.

In all honesty they really didn't want to do it because they already knew that they would pass. But it would have caused suspicion if they didn't so they decided that they had to. Since Emi's strength's lied in fighting, she had to solve a puzzle. And since Zexion was more of the logic person, he had to fight. It was exceptionally boring to both of them, the puzzle was something very easy and the fight was against Axel. So Emi got to work out her mind while Zexion got to take care of some of his bottled-in anger.

The man was shocked to say the least that he had not only one pair pass but _two_. The pairs were told they would be given additional information about the next trial and about what their test would be so that they could prepare. Then he left without another word. About three seconds after he left, the pairs were surrounded by their entire coven, being congratulated. Everyone was just so excited that they might have the future leaders right next to them. They were also happy because if one of the pairs did happen to be the next leaders, it would mean that their coven would become the most powerful one. And that meant there would be benefits for all. But finally after what seemed like hours of congratulations, Emi and Zexion finally managed to slip away unseen. They went back to their room, both tired from the day even though the challenges were so easy.

Through the time of waiting for the tester to come, Emi's mind had not been able to wander from what she had read in the journals. It was bugging her that she was so attached to this person that she had only read about in a journal, but she was still dying to know more about him. There was even the possibility that he might still be alive, that the vampires might not have killed him. Emi was torn to know more about him and to know more about Zexion. While she didn't know the boy, she did know Zexion and the realization hit her a few days ago that while he knew a lot about her past she barely knew anything of his.

They were laying on the bed when she rolled onto her side to look at him. His eyes were closed, but she knew that he might just be resting. So she gently said his name, knowing that it would get his attention if he was awake. One eye cracked open, urging her to continue.

"How did you become a vampire?" She didn't know why she asked that, but it just came tumbling out of her mouth before she could stop it. Zexion opened his other eye and turned on his side to face Emi straight on.

"Do you really want to know?" Emi nodded. Zexion sat up; rubbing whatever sleep that might have been starting to form there. Emi sat up as well.

"It all started when I was little. My parents had died in a horrible fire that left me with nothing. I was lucky to be taken in an apprentice to the most powerful man at the time Ansem. From there I worked from the age of six, being educated and taught many things."

Emi held her breathe. His story already reminded her of Ienzos. But she still listened.

"There were five other apprentices, all working for Ansem as well. When I was nineteen we started to do experiments about what happens to the human body when they change into a vampire. We did these experiments for over a year, keeping them a secret from Ansem. He had thought that we ended the project, but really we kept it going in secret."

It was like puzzle pieces fitting together in her mind, as Emi listened to Zexions story.

"Then one day in January, something went horribly wrong. The vampires that we had been keeping prisoner started to rebel. They killed all the other apprentices right in front of me, and I did the only thing that I could think of, I ran. It was a cowardly thing to do but I did. I hid and hoped and prayed that they would not find me but they eventually did. It had turned out that they really didn't kill the other apprentices; they just turned them into vampires. And that's what they did to me. And so over three hundred years later, here I am with you."

Emi wanted to cry but she held back. He was Ienzo, the one that she had read about in the journals. It all made sense with his story and what was written in those journals. But if he was Ienzo, who were the other apprentices?

"Who were the other apprentices?" Again the words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"Well to tell you that I have to explain something else to you. See when someone is changed into a vampire they have the option of whether or not to change their name. If they do want to change their name, then they rearrange the letters of their name and an X to make a completely new name. After what had happened we all decided to change our names, wanting to forget our past. I used to be Ienzo but now I am Zexion, Xigbar used to be Braig, Xaldin was Dilan, Vexen was Even, and Lexaeus was Alaeus. Xemnas was the only one different. He took our leaders name Ansem and rearranged it, as a constant reminder to himself as well as all of us as to what we did. His name used to be Xehanort." Zexion finally seemed to be done with his explanation.

"There was one more thing, though," He suddenly said, like he almost forgot. "After we all woke up I found everyone's journals. Ansem had us keep journals for our work and for our own personal pleasure. I took our journals and hid them away, so that if we ever needed to check facts or if we just wanted to reflect, then we had them at our leisure. Sometimes I go and check them, and reread the last words that I wrote before I was changed." He looked so sad for a second, then his impassive face was back.

"Where are they?" Emi asked, she knew the answer already but needed to check.

"I hid them in a secret room in the library, behind a wall that's an illusion." He said.

Emi closed her eyes and thought about what to do next. She still had the journals hidden under the bed, and she debated with herself about whether or not she should get them out to show them to him. Emi didn't want to seem like she had done something wrong, she did read those journals without permission but at the same time she hadn't known that they actually belonged to anyone who lived in the castle. She didn't know what to do. She didn't even notice how long she had been debating until she felt Zexion's hand touch her arm. She jumped slightly being jolted from her train of thought but opened her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Emi almost wanted to laugh. He just spilled his entire history to her and he's worried about _her?_ It made her want to laugh, and left her thinking, shouldn't I be worried about him? Instead she gave a light chuckle and settled back against the pillows, wanting to fall asleep.

"I've never been better, Zexy." She said already starting to fall asleep, making the snap decision that she wouldn't show the journals to him.

Emi fell asleep with the image of what she assumed Zexion's face was at his new nickname.

* * *

And now Zexion's past is fully known! That is all I have to say about that.


	25. Breaking News

Hey everyone! I cant remember if I was supposed to say anything here so I'll just let you read! Its a very short chapter by the way, the real interesting stuff comes in the next chapter.

Enjoy!~

* * *

_Chapter 25: Breaking News  
_

_This is breaking news_  
_This is breaking news_

_You're breaking news._

_-Michael Jackson  
_

The next trial was here already. Two weeks passing in the blink of an eye. Zexion had been kept at the castle so that he could get ready for the test, and he spent a lot of time with Emi. Mainly they would just hang out in the library, and would sometimes come out and spend time with others.

Something interesting had happened though; Luxord had somehow acquired a television. It was very enlightening to find out what was happening back in their world, even if it only got one snowy news channel. They found out that people were looking for all of them, even Emi and Namine. When the girls had seen that, they started crying, but Namine and Emi were dry eyed. Even Saix dabbed away a tear when he thought no one was looking. They found out that there was a Tsunami in Japan, and that the stock market had another crash.

It was a nice form of entertainment, and it allowed them to feel more connected to the world that they were supposed to leave behind. But one day they turned on the TV. to something much more interesting. It was a news report about Emi and Namines father.

"Breaking news, we have just found out that Richard Izumi has been arrested for keeping an underground brothel."

"EMI GET IN HERE!" Namine yelled up the stairs, not taking her eyes from the screen. She never yelled, and Emi came running down the stairs, as fast as lightning.

"Wha-?" She stopped when she saw her father on the screen.

"It is believed that he had his daughters, Emi Izumi and Namine Izumi, working here, and that might have been why they ran away. So far Richard Izumi has been in custody and over 50 women and girls have been freed from this place."

The reporter left the screen and the camera zoomed in on the house and showed all the police, firefighters and ambulances surrounding the house. Girls and women were scattered everywhere, to many to count. Some were crying, some looked like they couldn't be happier, but they all had a look of relief on their faces. Then the camera went back to panel onto the reporter again.

"_Richard Izumi will be charged for rape on multiple accounts and with many counts of human trafficking. Will all the witnesses that the police have against him, there is most likely no chance that he will be able to get out of any of his charges." _

Then the image of the reporter moved to the right of the screen as they showed the film of Rickard Izumi being put in the police car. There was no sound but he was thrashing around, trying to fight the police off. To no avail, they kept a firm grip on his arms and shoved him into the back of the police car. Underneath they had a caption that said, "We cannot play they audio do to explicit content." He looked completely insane. His eyes were popping out of his head because of how hard he was yelling, and his face was red from the strain. He looked like any second, he would pull out a gun and just start randomly shooting. Then the video ended and the reporter came back to full view.

"Many of the people working have been held as hostages, like many of the women who were keeping prisoner. All have refused to comment about what has happened to them. We have just gotten word from the police that they wont be able to have a solid case unless someone tells what happened here, and everyone who can wont. If the police cant get someone to come forward, then Richard Izumi could get off with no charges for insufficient evidence." The reporter herself looked like she wanted to cry at this news.

"This is Yuna from channel 10, signing off."

Then the news moved on. They watched the entire hour for something about him, but there was nothing else. But by the end of the news report, Emi had left and come back, but she returned with a cell phone.

* * *

Ooooooooooo cliff hanger! I couldnt help myself, but I'll update soon!

**R&R **please!


	26. Old Foes

This chapter is one of my favorites.

Enjoy!~_  
_

* * *

_Chapter 26: Old Foes_

_There is nothing like the sight of an old enemy down on his luck. _

_Euripides_

The police station was a very drab and worn out building. It was a dusty brown color, a color that made your eyes automatically away from it. As the three of them made their way up towards the entrance of the building, they couldn't help but notice that this police station was hidden away, deliberately tucked away so that it didn't stand out. As they walked in to the building all three noticed how busy it was, there were police officers practically running around everywhere. The three of them went unnoticed until they walked up to the nearest counter, where a very distressed blonde was searching around for something.

"Um…one second…um, how can I help you?" he said, not really looking up from his searching.

"I'm Emi Izumi, I got a call to come right away instead of tomorrow." His head immediately snapped up, eyes widening.

"Oh, oh! My name is Demyx and you need to come with me right away!" he practically ran around the corner of his desk, to lead them around to the back of the department. All the officers stopped everything they were doing to watch the three of them walk by. They all walked straight ahead though, ignoring the stares.

"Okay Miss Izumi you need to wait in this room, but I don't know about your friends here…" Demyx said. Zexion scowled at his words.

"I'm not going anywhere without them." Emi responded quickly, arms crossing over her chest. Demyx for a second looked distraught.

"Look why don't you two stay together, and I'll stay with Demyx. That way your not alone and Demyx doesn't get into trouble." Xigbar said. All of them paused to consider the idea, and slowly they all nodded in agreement.

"That'll be fine, you two go in here, and you Mr.….?" Demyx trailed off.

"Just call me Xigbar."

"Okay Xigbar, you follow me." Demyx beamed, practically skipping off. Xigbar followed behind him, a light smile on his face.

Zexion and Emi went into the room, an obvious interrogation room. They sat in the room, not saying a word, just waiting for someone to walk into the room so that they could get this over with. It wasn't more than five minutes before an officer walked into the room, a box in his hands and a very serious expression on his face.

"My name is Officer Tidus, and you must be Miss Izumi. Who is your friend?" Officer Tidus looked extremely worn out and tired, like he hadn't slept for days.

"My name is Zexion." He said shortly.

"Well Emi and Zexion, you guys are here because we got a very interesting call about the case that recently made the news. Apparently Emi, you called and told us that you were Richard Izumi's father and that you were willing to be a witness in his case. I just have a couple of questions that you will need to answer and I will need you to tell your entire story and then you can go home. Is that okay with you two?" He seemed to become more awake as he talked. When they both nodded he pulled a paper out of the box and read it over.

"Well Emi I will just need you to confirm a couple of facts right now. Your name is Emi Izumi, you are 17 years old and you recently ran away from home is that correct?" A nod. "Okay when you called, you mentioned that we needed to charge him with murder as well, is this true?" Again a nod.

"I need you to tell me your entire story, form the moment things started to go wrong to the moment you heard things on the news. For now the basics will do, the details of the story can come later."

Emi began. "My mother died in a car crash when I was 5. Then both my sister Namine and I moved in with our father. That's when the abuse began, I was forced to work as waitress to the men who liked young girls, and men I didn't know were constantly molesting me. I would get beaten if I did anything to protest or to speak out so I didn't. I was 15 when my father actually sold me to a man, and that was when my innocence was stolen form me. I lived like that until just a couple of months ago, with one customer who would always come and rape me. He must have paid a lot, because he was the only one I ever saw. I met a boy named Vanitas, and he was going to save me. But when he was going to get my sister and me out of that house, my father shot him. I didn't tell you this Zexion, but my father made me bury the body as well. It wasn't until just recently that my sister and I have gotten out, and when we did escape we split up, so that if one of us were ever caught the other one wouldn't be found. I don't know what happened to my sister, but I met Zexion and the other man out there Xigbar, and they both took me in and gave me shelter and a safe place." She finally concluded. Officer Tidus looked slightly shocked about what she had been through over the years. But one thing in particular stuck out in his mind.

"So you are telling me that the missing boy, Vanitas, is really dead and your father murdered him for trying to help you. And then on top of that he made you bury the body?"

"Yes, yes I am." She said. Emi wasn't looking up anymore, instead looking in her lap, staring at her hands.

"Okay, well this will do for now, I can tell that you have been through a lot over the years and I am really sorry for that." He extended his hand to both of them, standing up as well.

As they shook his hand, Emi asked, "Is he here, my father?" Officer Tidus looked sad, but not surprised that she asked this.

"Yes he is here." He looked like he already knew what was going to happen next.

"Can I see him? I wont do anything, I just want to see him" Tidus looked so conflicted. On one hand he seemed to want to give in, but on the other he knew what could happen if he let them see each other.

After a couple seconds of deliberation he decided. "Fine, fine you can see him. But if either one of you tries to kill one another, then you will both get in trouble, got it?" Emi nodded.

Tidus sighed and then lead them down the hall. They went past cell after cell but there was nothing in sight. Finally they arrived at the end of the hallway, to a tiny cell in the very back. Inside was Richard Izumi, lying down on his cot, facing the wall, away from people. Tidus banged against the bars to get his attention.

"Amazingly enough you have a visitor, get your sorry ass up." Tidus said before he backed away and let Emi come closer to the bars. She placed her hands up on them, lightly gripping them. Zexion stayed where he was, but he was close enough to where Emi could feel his presence.

Richard Izumi was a very burly man. He was very tall, but the height really gave him nothing. He was very meaty, and he had a distinct beer belly. His legs were very fat as well, as were his arms. But really his face was the most interesting. It was short and wide; his eyes were so dark they were almost black. His hair was shaggy, falling on his forehead with oily strands. When he turned around to see who had visited him, his eyes lighted up with what could only be described with maniacal laughter. He practically hopped up from his bed, laughing as he did so.

"Ah my darling daughter has come to set things right hasn't she? I told them that they had the wrong person, and now you have come to set your father free, right?" He started laughing even louder.

"No." The laughing stopped as soon as it had started.

"What was that?" The glare on his face could have killed someone.

"No. I said no." Richard now looked ready to kill her.

"What do you mean no? You insolent girl, you never could do anything right before! If you aren't here to help me what are you here for?" He was yelling now, his face turning a dark red the longer he went.

"I am here to tell what actually happened, since no one else will. I am here to tell my story and the horrors of what you have done. But as of me being here talking to you, I am here to tell you that no matter whether or not you got o jail or not, there is a special place in hell for people like you. You will rot for what you have done. I want you to know that you will never be able to hurt anyone again, not any woman or child and you will never be able to hurt me or my sister." Her speech done with, Emi turned around and started to walk down the hall. Not looking back once as he started to yell again.

"How dare you? You never knew your place in the world! How dare you talk to me like that! I could wreck you! I could…" His voice and screaming drifted off the farther they walked.

"That was very brave of you." Tidus said as they walked out into the main lobby.

"Thank you, but that was things that I have always wanted to say to him. No matter what if he gets a conviction or not, he will suffer in hell for what he has done." Zexion reached out and took her hand, giving it a light squeeze for comfort.

They found Xigbar chatting it up with Demyx, looking like he was having the time of his life. Emi and Zexion shared a glance, but didn't say anything out-loud. Instead Emi just went up and tapped his shoulder lightly to get his attention.

"Xigbar we have to got but if you want you can stay to talk and help Demyx if he wants." She said. At her words, Demyx got even more excited and started bouncing in his chair.

"Oh yes, please Xiggy, please please please please!" He reminded them of a 5 year old who was asking if their friend could stay the night. Xigbar smiled at his antics.

"Sure kiddo whatever you want." Demyx smiled, if possible, even brighter.

"Alright 'Xiggy' you know where to find us." Zexion said before they walked out of the police station. As soon as they were far enough to where they thought that Xigbar couldn't hear them they started laughing. His new nickname, the way that he acted around Demyx was just so unusual, it was hilarious for them. They took a portal back to the castle, and found everyone waiting for them. When Xigbar wasn't there, they seemed to grow worried but Emi and Zexion quickly explained what happened and why Xigbar wasn't there. (Or as they now called him 'Xiggy').

Xigbar didn't return until a couple hours later, complete with a passed out Demyx in his arms. While everyone else looked at least a little surprised that Xigbar had actually found his mate, Zexion and Emi just gave looks of 'we knew it' to each other. Xigbar told them all about what had happened. He had spent the entire time with Demyx, helping him with work and doing everything possible to make sure that he did a good job and that he did it fast so that he could get them out of the police station sooner. Finally when it was done Xigbar offered to walk Demyx home, which Demyx was very happy to oblige to, and when they had passed an alley Xigbar had pounced on him. He really didn't want to but he just had to make sure. So he didn't drink any blood just did a quick bite and then pulled away, to see if the tattoo had formed that would tell him if this was his mate. When he saw that the tattoo was there and that Demyx was already passed out Xigbar just carried him through a portal and into the castle.

All the girls, except Emi of course, fawned over Demyx like mother hens. While all the guys went and congratulated Xigbar on finding his mate. It was all very nice and sweet, and it was nice to know that they would soon have a new person joining their family.

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**Read and Review!**


	27. The Golden Rule

Time went by faster than i thought it was, and before I knew it so much time had passed! Well here you guys and gals go, I hope you enjoy my latest update.

Enjoy!~

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_Chapter 27: The Golden Rule_

_Do unto others as they would do unto you._

_-The Bible_

Demyx awoke three days later, but he refused to leave his room. To say that he was scared was the understatement of the year. He would hide from anyone that came to his room, and would really only calm himself around Xigbar. Demyx refused to leave and didn't believe anything that anyone tired to tell him about what was going on. It was only when he had spent two days holed up in his room did other people start to worry. While everyone was meeting up and talking about what to do, Emi snuck away to where she new Demyx was.

_Everyone is approaching him the wrong way. He just needs to talk to someone. _She thought as she walked to his room. Emi knew that she wouldn't get a response if she knocked, so instead she just walked right in. Demyx was laying under the blanket, a round lump in the middle of the bed.

"Demyx?" She said softly, walking towards the barely moving lump. "Hey come on, look up at me, you already know me." Demyx didn't move, but then, slowly at first, the blankets moved and Demyx popped his head out from under them. His eyes lit up when he saw that he actually knew who it was.

"Emi?" he said hopefully. When she nodded he let out a squeal of joy and jumped up from the bed, and started hopping around the room.

"Oh my gosh what are you doing here? Are you being held here to? Are you going to save me?" He said all in a rush. Emi gave a smile and waited for him to calm down before saying anything.

"Okay, okay, okay Demyx calm down. I have a lot of things to tell you but you need to calm down first." Like an obedient puppy he sat down and looked up at her expectantly. "First I am not here to save you." He looked like he was just told he was going to die tomorrow. Emi quickly tried to save face. "But I am here to explain why you are here, and why you can't leave." Demyx looked at her expectantly.

"Demyx you are here for the same reason that I am here. Someone special has found you, someone that you are meant to spend the rest of your life with. Do you know who I am referring to?"

"Xiggy?"

"Yes for you its 'Xiggy'. You see there is an interesting twist. But first tell me do you believe in the supernatural?"

"Yes I do."

"Vampires?"

"Well I guess…"

"Well everyone here is a vampire. The way they work is that they have to find their mate, or the person that they are meant to spend the rest of their life with before to much time passes. And for Xigbar you two are soul mates. I know it's a shock but its true." He looked like he didn't know what to say.

"But…" he tried, but nothing came out.

"Demyx what was the last thing you remember before you woke up here?" She didn't give him a chance to think of any reason to get away.

"Well me and Xiggy were walking, and then the next thing I know was that I was pulled into the alley and then my neck hurt." He started to rub his neck subconsciously. "And then I woke up here."

Emi moved quickly, with one hand she grabbed the small compact mirror and pulled it out of her pocket. With her other hand she grabbed his arm, and forced the hand that was rubbing his neck away from his neck. She held the mirror up to where he could see his very own tattoo, a very bright golden color that almost blended with his skin. It seemed like the tattoo itself was made out of waves, and they almost rippled across his skin. Demyx just stared at the mirror, looking shocked.

"Demyx this appears when a vampire finds their soul mate. I have one as well. Listen to me, this is where I have been hiding from my father, and you are totally safe here. We aren't going to hurt you, and while everything I say seems really far and made up, I swear to you that every word is true."

Emi let go of his hand and he let it fall listlessly into his lap. Demyx looked like he was going to cry for a second, but then he straightened up, and looked right at Emi.

"Okay, I trust you. I think that maybe its time to get out of this room." He said as he stood up. Emi gave a light smile and led the way to the room where everyone was still talking about what to do with Demyx. No one even noticed when the two of them stepping into the room.

"Um hey guys? Maybe if you actually paid attention around you, you wouldn't have to be having a conversation about what to do next." Emi said. Every single pair of eyes turned to them, then Xigbar ran up the biggest grin on his face.

"Dem! You actually came out of the room! Everyone this is Demyx." Xigbar started give introductions, his arm around Demyx's waist. Demyx looked nervous but he let himself be introduced to everyone.

No one noticed as Emi stayed in the back of the room, leaning against the wall. Zexion came and stood next to her on the wall, unnoticed by anyone as well. He stood close enough that their shoulders were touching.

"How did you do it?" he whispered.

"I did what no one else seemed to think of, I went and told him the truth. I did what I thought should be done." She whispered back.

Zexion lightly grasped her hand. "In all the excitement, it seems that everyone forgot that we have a couple of tests today for those trials." Zexion pulled her out of the room and down the hall.

"Aw do we really have to? Its just a waste of our time." Emi groaned.

Zexion chuckled. "To us yes, but to everyone else they don't know that yet." He just held her hand and continued to lead her.

-X-X-X-X-

Emi was right it had been a waste of their time. They had beaten not only all of the tests but they had also beaten every other person that was taking their tests. Once the people had passed their tests they had to face the other people who were there, because one of the things that their leader will do is that they will never be beaten in a fight. To Zexion and Emi fighting those people and those challenges were like elementary school challenges. It had taken them no more than five minutes per fight and no more than three minutes per challenge.

They arrived back at the castle, to find that Demyx had adjusted well to everyone else. He was in the middle of the room and everyone was around him, showering him with affection. He seemed to love it. Everyone seemed to know then that he would be happy here like they were and that Demyx would fit in right at home here.

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The next chapter is one of my favorites, but you guys have got to wait and see.

Read and review please!


	28. Pool Day

This is one of my favorite chapters, I'm not really sure why either. I have a feeling that there is supposed to be something else that I should tell you guys but I really cant remember...

Enjoy!~

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_Chapter 28: Pool Day_

_Always expect the unexpected._

_-Saying_

From then on Demyx could only be described as what could be a child in Disney Land. He got along with everyone; even Xemnas liked him more than others. It turned out that while he acted like a child, he was a very formidable opponent, one of the best. He could beat almost everyone. And he was good at magic though, water magic especially, making it so that he really didn't get along with Axel.

Sora and Kairi went to their own trials and passed as well. Emi and Zexion had no worries about winning but every time that Sora and Kairi went out you could see the nervousness etched onto their faces. Both every time they would come back with bright smiles and great moods. But every time one of the pair came back it would be one step closer to the biggest test, and secretly they were both hoping that they wouldn't have to face against one another.

Shiloh and the other familiars weren't forgotten either, they got closer to their person but at the same time they got closer to one another. Shiloh would let Kairis hamster perch on his head, and they would all sit together whenever they were in the same room.

Everyone started going out on missions again, even Zexion but they were less demanding and they took a lot less time. So he would be back in the castle more often, and he wouldn't feel the need to pass out the moment he got back. Emi began her training again and sometimes others would join her but Shiloh was always there to help her. She got stronger and stronger as they days progressed and it didn't take long before she was more powerful than ever.

Emi kept going back to the station to give interviews and to tell her story in more detail. It was always Officer Tidus that talked to her, but now she was alone since Zexion had his missions. One day she led them to where she had buried the body of Vanitas, a place that was barren for miles. There was nothing in sight, but she knew exactly where to go. As soon as they discovered that she was telling the truth they added the charge of murder to his long list. All that Emi wanted to know was when the trial date was going to be so that she would never have to talk about this again.

But before anyone had thought the dates were flying by. Time moved by fast, and everyone could feel the growing tension between Sora and Kairi and Emi and Zexion. But they pretended to ignore it, pretended to ignore how neither were loosing and that the possibility of them fighting against one another was growing very likely. But even Demyx, the most oblivious person in the world, could tell something wasn't going to go right. So he did the only thing he could think of, come up with a major distraction.

Out of the blue one day Demyx told everyone to meet in twenty minutes the main room. He would run away before anyone could tell them they couldn't come, leaving them with no option but to show up. Twenty minutes later everyone was in the main room, waiting to see what Demyx had wanted to show them. He arrived right on the dot, a large bag on his shoulders and towing Xigbar behind him. Xigbar looked as confused as everyone else felt. Once he saw that everyone was there he opened up a portal, shouting 'follow me!' and walking right into it.

One by one everyone followed him through the portal and found a very interesting sight on the other side. It was a completely closed off pool, a large wall surrounding it and cutting it off from the outside world. There was even a canopy overhead, protecting everyone from to much sun exposure. Kairi practically screamed in excitement when she saw it and ran right to the edge of the pool. The she just stopped.

"But Demmy we don't have any bathing suits." She sounded like she was going to cry but Demyx just smiled brighter at her words.

"What do you think is in this bag? I have suits for the girls and for the guys!" he pulled out from his bag enough bathing suits for everyone. It seemed amazing that it all fir into his bag. Everyone went and grabbed a bathing suit, even Emi who only did so because of Namine's pleading.

When they all emerged from the changing rooms it was quite a sight. Xemnas had on shorts that were a mixture of black and white and they showed off how muscled he was. Xigbar had dark purple shorts with a black stripe down the side, and his hair was down as well. Xaldin just had black shorts, but he looked ready to kill someone for being dragged out to the pool. Vexen had ice blue shorts, his hair was tied up behind his head, leaving his lanky body to be seen. Lexaeus didn't even bother to change, just saying that he wasn't going to swim anyway. Zexion indigo blue-checkered pattern with the squares going to indigo blue to black and then to indigo again. His arms were crossed over his chest, looking very displeased with his situation. Saix had on black shorts with a crescent moon on the leg of each. And Saix just looked embarrassed to be in a bathing suit in front of so many people. Axel of course had shorts with flames on them. Demyx's shorts were blue, with tiny fishes swimming along the bottom of them. He looked exceptionally happy that everyone was going along with his idea. Luxord's had poker symbols on them, which he found very amusing. Roxas and Sora both had on bright golden shorts while Riku had on silver ones.

The guys all stopped what they were doing when the girls came out. Kairi had on a pink bikini top and bright pink shorts that went well with her personality. She literally hopped over to Sora, bouncing from the excitement like Demyx. Xion was next, wearing a one-piece black bathing suit that matched her figure perfectly. As soon as Roxas saw it he started blushing, making Xion blush as well. Namine wore a white tankini top and a white skirt to match. When Riku saw her he went over and scooped her into his arms, making her laugh like crazy and put her arms around his neck. Emi was the last to emerge, wearing a black bikini with red trim on it. She had her arms crossed over her stomach protectively and wouldn't look up from the ground. Namine had Riku put her on the ground and she went and tried to get her sister to come out. Even though they talked in whispers, everyone could hear what they were saying.

"Emi, come on lets swim a little." Namine tried, but Emi shook her head.

"Now is the best time Emi they were going to find out one way or another you might as well do it now." Namine tried again, but Emi shook her head even harder.

"This was a stupid idea. I don't know why I thought I could do it." Emi whispered. But before Namine could say anything someone interrupted.

"Emi? Why don't you join everyone else? Come on it'll be fun." Zexion said. He lightly reached out and grabbed her elbow, pulling gently on it. Emi let her arms go slack, showing them what she had been hiding.

All over her stomach there were scars. Most looked like cuts but there were others that looked like burns. And in some places it even looked like a piece of skin or two had been cut out. Emi could feel every person staring at her and she figured now that they all know about that they should know about the bigger one as well.

Emi turned so that her back was facing everyone. Going from her right shoulder blade to her left hip was an ugly dark scar. The entire room seemed to take in a gasp of surprise when they saw it, but no one said anything. And yet it was obvious that everyone had one question on their minds. How did Emi get these scars? She knew their question already, it's the question that everyone asks when they see it. So she placed her arms around her stomach again and turned around to explain.

"The scars on my stomach were punishments. The one on my back is different though. One day my father attacked me with a butcher knife. He kept me at home until Namine convinced him that if he didn't take me to a hospital I would die. I think that was over five years ago, when I was twelve." Emi still didn't look up from the ground when she talked. But at least she didn't try to run away.

When no one said anything Emi began to worry, a million thoughts rushing through her head. 'What if they don't like me?' 'What if they think less of me?' 'What if they don't want to be near me and my horrible past?' Emi began to feel a little panicked, but tried to remain calm.

She was shocked to say the least when she felt Zexion take her hand and lead her away and over to one of the many pool side chairs. They sat down together and everyone else continued on as if nothing had really happened. Emi was even more shocked, but she needed to talk to Zexion the only way that she knew no one else would hear them. She used her telepathy. Even though Shiloh wasn't there she could still hold a very short conversation.

_Zexion? Can you hear me?_

**Emi? **

_Yes. Why is everyone acting like I hadn't just told them something important?_

**No one is going to think less of you for something you had no control over. They're just treating you normally, like they would any other person.**

_Oh..._

Emi found herself relaxing more and more as she realized that Zexion was right, people were just trying to treat her the same as they had before. The two of them stayed where they were, watching everyone mess around in the water. Demyx himself was like a fish, and could hold his breathe longer than anyone else. Everyone else was playing games including Marco Polo and chicken. But neither Emi nor Zexion went to swim, even though a couple of times people would come and ask them to join. Even Zexion was beginning to wonder why Emi would join everyone else, she had really seemed to calm down.

"Emi why don't we join everyone else?" Zexion finally asked. Emi shook her head, a slight frown on her face.

"Why not?"

"I can't swim." Was the barely whispered response. Zexion could barely hear it over everyone's laughter. He smiled though.

"I could teach you, if you want. And its not like anyone is going to let you drown." Emi still looked unsure, biting at her lip.

"I don't know….maybe I cou-" she was cut off as she was lifted into the air by someone. She almost screamed, but managed to hold back. Zexion was on his feet in a second, glaring at the person holding her. Emi looked up to see Axel holding her, a smirk on his face.

"So Emi why haven't you joined the rest of us?" Emi struggled but it didn't seem to do any good. Then he started walking towards the water.

Axel broke straight out into a run. There was no time for Emi to struggle before he jumped straight into the pool, Emi still in his arms. Under the water they struggled for a bit before Axel let her go and swam to the top. Emi sunk like a stone straight to the bottom of the pool. She fought against the water, but nothing really seemed to work to get her to the surface, if anything she seemed to sink faster. Then she felt herself come to a rest against the bottom of the pool, her back hitting it. Emi stared at the bright light coming through the water before her vision went black.

When Zexion saw that Axel had let go of Emi, he jumped right in. Zexion quickly made his way to bottom and lifted her up. She was limp in his arms, not moving unless he moved her first. When he broke the surface someone took her and placed her on the edge of the pool as he hoisted himself up. Emi's face was deathly pale, her lips almost blue. Zexion quickly knelt at her side, checking for her breathing. There was no breathing but her she had a heartbeat. But her heart was beating weaker by the second. He did all that he could think of, he turned her onto her side and thumped her back as hard as he could. He was pretty sure he heard something crack, but still pounded her back. When he did it the third time Emi's eyes popped open and she coughed up what seemed like a huge amount of water. When she was done coughing Emi rolled back onto her back and passed out. Vexen knelt down to check if she was really okay, while Zexion slowly got up.

Everyone already knew who he was looking for and moved out of his line of sight, giving him a full view of Axel. Axel had his arms crossed, a scowl on his face, an almost disappointed look on his face. Zexion marched right up to him.

"You fucking bastard!" Zexion punched him right in the nose, making him fall backwards. But before Zexion could really do some damage Xaldin and Lexaeus held him back.

"Ow! How was I supposed to know she couldn't swim?" Axel looked almost as mad as Zexion was.

"Why do you think we hadn't joined everyone else? You could have killed her you bastard!" If he wasn't being held back then it he probably would have just killed Axel right then and there.

"That's enough! Look she has a broken rib but otherwise she is going to be fine. Axel you shouldn't have done what you did, and Zexion you need to calm down." Vexen suddenly spoke up, effectively halting everyone in their tracks. Zexion calmed down but still looked angry.

"That's it you have done enough to her. I never want to see you near her or talking to her ever again." Zexion had never looked so angry before. He stomped over to where Emi was lying and slowly picked her up, taking her back to the castle.

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And end chapter! Yay Vexen for being the voice of reason!

Read and review please!


	29. I guess what I have to say is thank you

Another chapter! Right now, I'm watching The Nightmare Before Christmas...I keep expecting Sora or Roxas to appear out of nowhere and start talking to Jack...

Enjoy!~

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_Chapter 29: I guess what I have to say is thank you._

_I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks. _

_~William Shakespeare_

Emi's rib hadn't actually been broken, just badly fractured. Vexen gave her some green liquid that he called a 'potion' and told her as soon as she took this then her rib would be fixed in a couple of hours. Emi had taken it immediately but her ribs still hurt, and being herself she ignored it but Vexen said it would pass. Zexion stayed by her the entire time, watching over everything that Vexen and Emi did and said.

As soon as Emi had awoken she had been told about what had happened, since she couldn't recall anything that had happened after had been dumped in the pool. Emi had smiled at Zexion when she heard about how she had threatened Axel, causing him to blush a very nice shade of tomato red. Her rib seemed to be healing fine but it was taking to long for her, her own impatience getting in the way.

Before her ribs could really heal they had another test. Zexion tried to push the date back, but the judges wouldn't budge. So Emi and Zexion showed up and even with a hurt rib they still managed to win. At the very end it was revealed that they were one of the final three, that everyone else had either been disqualified or eliminated. They knew that Kairi and Sora hadn't been eliminated to, and knew automatically that they were going to have to face those two. They went back to the castle with heavy hearts, knowing already that they would win, but hid their knowledge well and as far as they could tell no one else could tell of their dilemma.

It was amazing how time went by really slowly. Her rib did heal in a couple of hours but after that they had nothing else to do. They did everything from training to just watching the fuzzy television. But nothing seemed to ease their boredom and anticipation for the next and final test.

When Emi finally got a brief moment to herself she returned the journals to their rightful hidden place in the library. There was no sign that anybody had been in that part of the library since she had discovered it. She placed them on their shelf, in the order that they had come in as well. Emi took her time, looking around in the room, sitting down in the desk that still had the book that told her about everything. The book opened, but it was blank the pages had not a word on them. She sighed as she closed the book again, instead choosing to look at the other parts of the small circular room. It seemed there was nothing else in the room, just those journals and that table with the book on it.

The fire that she had wasn't enough light for her, so she ignited another one from her palm, letting it rest there instead of joining with the other. Emi looked upon every inch of the wall, she had this feeling that something else was hidden in this room, but she couldn't find it. But as she looked along the walls she noticed a very thin line against the wall, it went right up to the ceiling and disappeared. About five feet to the right was another line, almost invisible that Emi had to feel to know where it was. She made the fire grow a little bigger, so that she could see better.

Emi placed her fire on the floor behind her, allowing her to see the wall but have both of her hands free. She placed both of her hands on the wall and pushed with all her might. She felt the wall give in about half a foot, then stop. When she took a step back the wall slid to the left, revealing a very dark hallway covered with dust.

Emi picked up her fire again and headed down the hallway. She was excited and nervous at the same time, amazed that just when she thought she had gotten all that she could out of that room, it had given up another secret. The hallway was so dark she could barely see a foot in front of her face. But she still kept walking, unwilling to give up this new entertainment. With one hand in from of her and one hand trailing along the wall she kept moving forward one slow step at a time. Eventually Emi came across a doorway, it wasn't locked so she just walked right in. Inside the room, Emi searched for a light switch. Amazingly enough there was one, flicking it on Emi was revealed to what was once a study. Extinguishing her fire, she looked around the room.

It was a light pink, almost pink color. There were desks along the wall, with papers scattered over every inch possible as well. There was something so different about this room, something that made Emi feel like she was an unholy presence in a sanctuary. She ignored it, and moved onwards. Besides all the papers, there was nothing else that captured her interest. Instead she found herself staring at the paintings on the walls.

There was one picture to every wall, totaling four pictures in all. One was a picture of a young man, obviously in his early twenties. He wore a white lab coat, with a dark purple collar underneath it. The most noticeable thing about him though was that he had white hair, it looked almost identical to Xemnas, except it was shorter. He seemed to be looking at something off the canvas, but at the same time he looked as if he wasn't there, like he was lost in his thoughts. He looked oddly familiar to her, as if they had either met before.

The next painting to the right was extremely odd as well. But at the same time it was very beautiful. It was of a beautiful town, a castle sitting off in the distance, and fountains everywhere. The castle was the highest point in the picture, with a small town surrounding it. The entire place had fountains had flowers on it, making the whole town took like a collection of beautiful reds, oranges, blues and every color in between. It was so beautiful and sunny, like it was encased in pure light. It looked peaceful, like nothing bad had ever happened and like nothing was ever going to. This painting had a caption though, a golden plaque underneath it said, 'Radiant Garden, where the story began.'

Though it was a beautiful painting, Emi's curiosity was getting the better of her and she moved on to the next painting. She blinked in surprise and shock at the painting. It was of the Goddess herself, Selene. Selene looked the exact same as when Emi had seen her, even though the painting was obviously much older than she was. Selene still wore her long flowing robes; her hair was the same to with long flowing, brown curls. She even had no shoes on, just like every time that Emi saw her. Selene was smiling gently, lovingly, giving a sense of love and protection to whoever was looking at the painting. And Emi was no exception. Behind her was the moon in its heart shape, almost looking like a halo with the way it shaped its way around her with a gentle light. There were stars as well, but they couldn't compare to the moon and Selene herself.

There was just one more painting left. It was of three people, like they were taking a picture. It was with two boys and one girl, the girl was in the middle and she had one boy on each side of her. On the right a boy had bright golden hair, exactly like Roxas' hair, he even had clothes that looked the same, except on his left shoulder there was some sort of metal thing resting there. In the middle, the girl, had amazingly bright blue hair. She even wore black and blue; her upper arms had these sleeves on them, going down to mid palm, where she had fingerless gloves. She had a smile on her face like she was having the time of her life. On the other side of her was a boy. He had brown hair, and was extremely muscled. He offered a small smile, but his eyes wandered towards the girl next to him. One could easily tell that he loved her; he even had his arm around her waist. This painting had a golden plaque as well; it said 'Ventus, Aqua, and Terra.'

_Those names…where have I heard them before?_ Emi thought. Then it dawned on her. Those were the names than Xemnas had told them about. These were the three that stopped Xehanort when he went crazy making all the vampires. Ventus, Aqua and Terra had given up everything for what they knew was right. Emi stared in wonderment at the painting, thinking about what might have happened if they hadn't done what they did. Xehanort might have gone crazy, and wiped out the human race, and then in turn she might have never met Zexion. Emi almost shuddered at that thought.

_I never thought about it before…but I owe a lot to these three. I don't think I would have had the strength that they had had. I wish I could thank them personally. _Emi thought.

"Thank you…" she whispered to the empty room. Even though she knew no one could hear her, it made Emi feel better.

She suddenly became aware of just how long she had been down here. It had been over three hours, even though she felt like she just got here. Emi practically ran out of the room, barely giving herself time to turn off the lights as she ran. She didn't even bother to get more fire; the passage was just a straight line. As soon as Emi made it there she grabbed her bag and left, putting back up the illusion as she went. Luckily there was no one in the library so she walked back to her room and out her bag back before she ran off to the kitchen to get something to eat. Zexion was there already, along with others.

"Hey where have you been? I was looking for you." Zexion immediately asked.

"Oh you know, around."

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This chapter was really long...it took forever to write.

Read and review please!


	30. The Final Test

I've reached chapter 30. The big three-oh. And we still have a while to go.

Enjoy!~

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_Chapter 30: The Final Test_

_"One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards."  
-Oscar Wilde  
_

Today was the day, the day of the final test. Sora and Kairi had passed all their tests as well, pretty much ensuring that they would have to face against each other. It disheartened Emi and Zexion, knowing that they would win, but they pretended like they didn't know and Sora and Kairi didn't suspect a thing. Whenever the two pairs were around each other the air was tense, and they both seemed to give off the sense that they wouldn't go easy on one another. And they still tried to ignore it though, and make the best out of the situation.

When the day finally came, Zexion and Emi went separately to the area, both trying not to think about what was about to happen. The room they ended up in was very large and circular, with gray being the only color. The room was made entirely of cement as well; making sure the room was cold as ice. But the strangest thing about this room was how there was nothing in it. In all the other rooms they had fought in there had always been an audience or even a selection of different weapons that they could choose from, but this room was barren. They waited patiently for something to happen. It wasn't long before Sora and Kairi showed up though, looking as surprised as they were about the fighting conditions. And then it wasn't even thirty seconds after those two arrived that three more people showed up.

One was what looked to be a judge; he had a clipboard on his arm. The other two seemed to be a couple by the way they were holding hands. The couple looked cute together, one had blonde spiked up hair that looked sort of like Roxas' hair. The other one had brown hair and was taller, but he had an air of confidence about him that let people around him know that he was in charge. The judge looked eager and excited at the same time, but he kept his cool. Everyone met in the center of the room.

"Okay, this is the final two. Everything from here on out will be kept a secret; nothing is ever going to leave this room. That's why there is no audience here. There will be no additional help as well; whatever goes on from here on out is you and you alone. Now you have always had the option of additional weapons as well but that will no longer be allowed, since your fight has to be about your own ability. The fight is over when one of us says its over, one of you ends up loosing or when someone has to surrender or face serious injury. Does everyone understand the rules?" There were murmurs of agreement.

"Alright, I am the judge, and these guys are Cloud and Leon, the current leaders of our society. Whichever pair wins the fight against each other will have to face them, and that will determine if you are capable of ruling. Well I think that is all, you may begin any time you wish." And with that the three of them went and leaned against the wall, waiting to see what would happen next.

The four of them stared at each other; no one wanted to make the first move. Since they knew that as soon as one of them moved, it would trigger the start of their fight. It was unknown how long they started at each other, but they knew they couldn't stay like that forever. Suddenly almost out of nowhere Sora summoned his keyblade. He charged forward at Emi swinging it with all his might. Emi dodged just in time, summoning her swords as well. As they started fighting, she noticed that Kairi and Zexion were in their own battle of magic on the other side of the room.

It was a constant battle of swinging and dodging for Sora and Emi. Neither one seemed able to land a hit on each other, but they kept trying. Sora would try to hit then he would dodge, then Emi would try to hit and dodge as well. They seemed perfectly matched for each other. But eventually this balance that they had of dodging and swinging would end, but for now it didn't seem to have an ending. But suddenly a pained yell made them both freeze. Kairi was clutching her arm, blood oozing out in between her fingers. Zexion looked torn between proud over getting a hit and feeling bad over having to hurt her. Emi took the opportunity to make a swipe at Sora, landing a light cut across his leg. It didn't draw blood but caused him enough pain to bring him back to the fact that he was in the middle of a battle. But he just couldn't seem to regain his concentration. Sora's eyes kept wandering back to where Kairi was fighting. It just allowed Emi to make more and more hits on him. Soon he had small cuts all over him, nothing life threatening but each one drew at least one or two drops of blood. But at least he was trying to hit back instead of just getting totally out of his mind.

But as more and more time passed, the fight really didn't change that much from how it had been going. Emi continued to land hits on Sora with him defending. But finally Emi got tired of how long it was taking, and really stopped holding back. She stopped dodging and almost ferociously attacked Sora, making Sora constantly have to dodge. Eventually in his effort to back away from Emi he tripped, landing hard on his back. Emi didn't waste any time, as she literally pounced on Sora, straddling his hips and placing one of her blades to his throat. He lifted his keyblade so that the teeth of it rested against the back of her neck, but it didn't make Emi move at all. Instead in response she lifted her other blade and slammed it into the floor right next to his head, about an inch away from his ear.

"Alright you two that's enough." The judge appeared out of nowhere, breaking up Emi and Sora. Slowly Emi got off of Sora, allowing him to get up.

"Emi wins this half of the fight. Take a break and go rest, we still have to wait for the other two to finish." He went back to his place, and Sora and Emi took their own place as well, sitting next to each other.

"Good fight." Emi said, she extended her hand to Sora. He shook it but still looked upset.

Zexion and Kairi were in the middle of their own heated battle with no signs of stopping anytime soon. Their fight was different though, it didn't deal with fighting, their fight was about magic. Kairi was hitting Zexion with what looked like balls of pure light, barely giving him a chance to fire back. Instead he held up his book, letting that take the blows instead of his body. His book was now as large as he was, and pages were flying out of it, disorienting Kairi. Zexion took the opportunity to make a few of the pages hit her, drawing even more blood from her. Then when she was trying to heal her wounds, he made his book actually slam down on her. The book stayed its same size, but now when it's showed its pages Kairi was seen on them. Sora tried to intervene but Emi stopped him. But then Kairi fell out from inside the book, landing hard on the ground. She immediately jumped up and started swinging at him, her keyblade hitting him in a few places but really not causing any damage. It was getting more and more obvious that Kairi was wearing down, and that she wouldn't last much longer. She looked so tired, like she was just going to pass out from exhaustion. But she kept going on, ignoring that fact. But she couldn't go on forever, and after about five more minutes she suddenly did collapse on her knees, and would have landed on her face, but Sora caught her.

"Well I think that's enough. The winners are Emi and Zexion. Sora and Kairi, you two are free to go." Sora nodded and carried Kairi through a portal. Then the judge looked at the rest of them.

"Well, I'm off then." He said, opening his own portal. Emi and Zexion looked confused at each other.

"You're not staying?" Zexion asked. The judge shook his head.

"The final test is always between the current leaders and the last couple left. No one is ever allowed to be an audience for that." Then he just left.

Emi and Zexion stood next to each other as they watched Cloud and Leon. The two of them stood right in front of each other, with Cloud right in front of Emi and Leon facing Zexion. Then in synch, everyone summoned their weapons to their side. The air was filled with tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. Emi and Zexion got into their fighting positions, ready to defend themselves.

"Now, hang on you two. Before we really start fighting, answer this question. Do you two really think that you're going to win?" Leon asked. Emi and Zexion looked at each other before answering.

"Well, its not really up to us, is it?" Zexion said. Leon nodded in response.

Then they started fighting. It was brutal; Leon and Cloud obviously were out to get blood. But it wasn't like their last fight though; there was something so much more animalistic about it. It was like Cloud and Leon were really just out to _kill _them and not just out to defeat them. But Emi and Zexion just kept telling themselves that they were just trying to win as quickly as possible, not actually trying to _kill_ them. They kept dodging though, and trying to not get hit with those weapons. Every time that Emi dodged and Cloud's weapon hit the ground it left a crater there, and it would leave Emi imagining the damage that would have happened if it had actually hit her.

It was only ten minutes in when another strangled cry swept through the room. This time it was Emi though; the whole room seemed to stop when they heard her. She had her arm held over her stomach but it didn't hide the blood from staining her shirt a bright red. Zexion tried to get over to her, but Leon swiped at his back, causing his cloak to tear and for him to get a cut of his own. Emi practically growled when she saw that, and swung at Leon herself, only missing him by an inch or two. It was weird with that one swing Emi and Zexion had managed to switch who they were fighting. But it didn't stay that way either. They kept changing, back and forth never really sticking to one person as they constantly moved in a flurry of blows. This fight didn't seem to have an end in sight either, as neither of the pairs was willing to give up and no one stopped for even a second.

But it had to end some way in some sort of fashion. Out of nowhere, just when Emi and Zexion thought that they had the upper hand, Cloud had managed to pin down Emi. Zexion tried to come to her aid, but Leon wouldn't let him pass.

"We forgot to tell you, but at this part of the test, if you don't win you are killed instead of just let go.. And it looked like you two didn't win." Cloud raised his sword high in the air, so that when it came down it would land right on her neck.

_I thought we were supposed to win…_ Emi thought as she saw the sword descend and heard Zexion yell out.

Then it all seemed to freeze. Cloud and Leon stopped moving, Zexion even stopped as well. It was quite an interesting sight, to be pinned down by someone who seemed to be frozen in mid kill. Emi didn't know what was going on but she took the opportunity to wiggle out from under Cloud and stand up.

"Hello?" she called out.

"You have done well, child." Emi whipped around to see Selene behind her, smiling with that soft smile like she always does. Emi stared at her confused, waiting for an explanation.

"I told you and Zexion not to tell a word to anyone, and you two did just that. I know that you think that it will be horrible to rule, but trust me, its better than you think. You did the one thing that I asked of you, and for that I will personally make sure that if you do go through any hardships that you will always be safe." Her speech done with, she slowly started to fade into nothing, still smiling softly.

As soon as Emi couldn't see her anymore, time started to start again. It was like slow motion was happening all around her, she saw Zexion fight, Leon hold him back and Cloud bringing down the sword on where she used to be. Emi watched as time went back to normal, and the sword bury itself in the concrete where her neck had been barely a minute ago. The look on Clouds face when the sword didn't hit flesh was priceless. All three of them looked around the room, trying to find where she had disappeared to. When they finally spotted her, Emi smirked and waved, leaving them all stunned. Emi took that moment of surprise to launch herself at Cloud, who was still on his knees and his sword was still in the ground. She knocked him onto his side, pinning him down just like he had before her. He tried to knock her off but she pushed one of her blades against her throat, pressing hard enough for a thin line of blood to appear.

"Looks like we might just win." She said down to him, he glared but Emi just smirked at him.

Emi didn't allow wither of them to move as she watched Zexion take down Leon. He didn't use the same method as her, instead he used an illusion to confuse Leon, and then Zexion captured him in his book. When he was done, Zexion came to see how Emi was handling her side of the fight, his book following behind him.

"Are you going to admit defeat? Because I would really hate to have to kill you." Emi snarled out. She was tired and really wanted nothing more than to go home. Cloud debated his next words carefully. Trying to think about the best response that he could. Finally he came to a decision.

"Only if you let Leon go first." Zexion nodded and let Leon out of his book, where he collapsed roughly on the ground. Then Emi and Zexion turned back to Cloud expectantly.

"I am defeated." Cloud said. Right as he said those words, Selene showed up.

"Cloud and Leon, thank you for all you have done. But your time to rule is over, and these two are who I have planned to rein. I know it's hard to admit defeat when you win for so long, but I thank you. Now I need you two to explain all that goes on, all that they will do, and all the things that come with being a leader. Again I want to thank you two, Cloud and Leon, for all you have done. And I want to thank you two Emi and Zexion, for agreeing and fighting for this responsibility that you are about to take on. Thank you." And she faded, just like before.

The silence was awkward, almost deafening as the two pairs looked at each other. Neither one knew where to start. Finally Leon spoke up.

"So what should we talk about first?"

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I feel like this chapter could have been better, but wasnt.

Read and review please!


	31. Castle Oblivion

_Here is a very long awaited update. I know that its taken a while, but trust me this story is far from being over._

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_Chapter 31: Castle Oblivion_

_The coarse of true love never did run smooth._

_-William Shakespeare_

It had been five months since that day. Five months and everything changed. They had taken on the responsibility that Cloud and Leon had before them, making their lives very busy. Their coven was raised immediately to the top rank, and was the most powerful of all the others. The responsibility that they had taken on had been divided to everyone, each person taking on a different role and responsibility.

Sora and Kairi since they had been so close to winning, were in charge of the tests that every new person had to go through. Xaldin and Lexaeus, because of their strength, were in charge of watching over the covens and making sure that no one coven were being forgotten about, or abused. In those simple five months they uncovered three other covens that had been forgotten about. Everyone else's jobs constantly varied depending on what they were good at and what was available. It was still surprising to them how in just five short months everything had changed, and how everyone was so much busier than they had ever been before. And yet they would always make sure that they had time for each other and that they would get days off to spend with one another.

It was weird, to Emi, how whenever anyone had a problem with anything they would come and ask her. Her job was mainly supervising things to make sure that everything went smoothly but really she was more of a unofficial peacekeeper. She could think of solutions to problems, compromises, anything that was best for the problem that she was presented with. And whenever Emi was feeling overwhelmed or that she needed a break, she had her secret room that she would go and hide in for a while.

But then again it had only been five months. Cloud and Leon had said that they had been ruling for over three hundred years, Emi couldn't imagine doing what she had been doing for the next week, let alone three hundred. It was amazing to her how she had managed to keep it together for this time, and the thought of doing it for so long made her uneasy. But as long as she kept focusing on the present, the future didn't scare her so much.

For now though she was in the library though, enjoying some time alone and just relaxing. People knew that if they could find her in the library, then it was okay to see her. If not then it was better to just wait until she showed up back in the real world. She stared at the window, an open book placed in her lap and a fire lit. It cast a nice warm orange glow on the walls, giving off just enough light to read off. The book in her lap was Beauty and the Beast, but she wasn't looking at it, instead choosing to look out the window and up at the moon.

Emi wasn't alone for very long before she heard the library door creak open. Knowing that they were going to be looking for her, she closed her book, but didn't move from her spot at the window. She looked up and saw Zexion walk in, looking around for her. When he saw her he immediately came over to her, stopping right in front of her. They didn't say a word, but just stared at each other.

"Were needed." He simply said.

"Both of us?" That was a change of pace, normally whatever the issue was, only one of them was need to do it. Even though they both ruled, really they did things separately, hardly ever working together.

"Yes, both of us. There is this new castle that a coven wants to use, and we have to check it out." He said.

"Why cant anyone else do it?"

"Don't you remember? This is one responsibility that both of us have to do, specifically us." Emi and Zexion stared at each other for a couple of seconds before Emi stood up, placing her book on her seat and heaving a sigh.

Zexion gave a small smile and took her hand, leading her through a portal he summoned. They arrived in a bright white hallway, nothing in sight except a staircase in front of them leading upstairs and a staircase behind them leading downstairs. There was something so different about this place; it seemed to give off an ominous aurora. Zexion held her hand tighter as they looked around the room they were in.

"They call this place Castle Oblivion. We're on the main floor right now. If you really want to go back as quickly as possible, we can split up. I can take the basement floors and you can take the upper floors. Sound good?" She didn't want to split up, but at the same time, Emi didn't want to stay here any longer than she had to. Biting her lip, Emi nodded and let go of his hand.

As they turned away from each Emi felt Zexion grab her wrist. She turned, a question on the tip of her tongue, when Emi felt him lightly plant a kiss on her lips. It was short and sweet, conveying so many feelings that he couldn't say. When he finally pulled away, what felt like hours later, both him and Emi were blushing, not looking up from the floor.

"I love you." He said quietly, a smile barely noticeable under his blush.

"I love you to." She responded just as quietly, turning to go explore the staircase.

Zexion watched her leave as well, he had the same ominous feeling that Emi had, and he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. As soon as he couldn't see her anymore he turned and almost ran down the staircase in his rush to finish the duty they were assigned.

-X-X-X-X-

_At least in the castle back home we have other colors besides white; I mean we have gray as well, but here its just white._ Emi thought as she climbed what had to be the millionth stair.

It seemed like there was nothing here though. It went staircase, opening to a room that led to another staircase, and staircase again and so on and so forth. She had come across a room with a couch and a table, but other than that there really seemed to be nothing here. Emi hoped that Zexion was having more luck with the basement levels, but was really starting to doubt that there was anything here. If there wasn't anything up here, there probably wasn't anything down there. When she reached the twelfth floor, she came across something very interesting.

It looked like there had been a fire here recently; there was still a light smell of smoke in the air. The floor was covered in scorch marks, like someone had tried to light parts of it on fire but couldn't succeed. That ominous feeling that she had settled came back ten-fold, making her almost want to run out of the room. But she held her head high, and continued forward.

When she reached the next staircase leading to the thirteenth floor, she got the impending sense that someone was watching her. But when she tried to turn around, someone actually _grabbed _her. Emi struggled, but a cloth with something funny smelling on it was pressed over her mouth, making her vision go blurry almost immediately. With the last of her strength and dwindling vision she brought her elbow down as hard as she could on her attackers stomach. Whoever it was let her go, but she hadn't done it fast enough, her vision was still fading from whatever she had inhaled when they put that cloth over her mouth. Emi collapsed on her knees, the rest of her falling almost immediately after.

The last thing she heard before she faded out of consciousness was a voice grunting, "Oh bitch, you'll pay for that…"

-X-X-X-X-

"Emi? Where are you? Are you done yet?" Still no response, Zexion cursed under his breathe. He had been searching for her for over an hour, and she was still missing.

When he finally reached the thirteenth floor he found a piece of paper on the ground. Picking it up, Zexion's eyes widened at the words on them.

**_Zexion,_**

**_Good luck, but I am afraid that you will never see her again. Have fun with the rest of your life alone. I've been planning this for years, and I'll be damned if I let something as little as you two becoming rulers get in the way. I know that you will search for her, but I can promise you that for the rest of your life that you will never see her again._**

**_Best of luck in the searches that bring you nowhere._**

Zexion crumpled the paper in his fist, his eyes burning with pure rage. Immediately he opened a portal to the castle, determined to find Emi if it was the last thing he ever did.

OOOOOHHHHH twist ending! I bet you guys didn't see that coming!

Now I have to go and write the next chapter, onward! *gallops away on a horse that appears out of nowhere*


	32. Anger

Hey everyone it's a new chapter! I never can leave cliff hangers for very long. Oh and my silly computer wont let me respond to any of the reviews so here are the responses I would have written:

**Steph the bat 11: **Thanks so much, and happy Turkey day to you to!

**KingdomHeartsLoverLovesYou: **I'm so sorry you had a crappy day and I'm really happy that my story could make you happy. 358/2 was my favorite game out of all of them, and I'm glad that you remember that detail because that is what I based that idea on. Thanks so much for the review!

**ZexyISSexy: **Thanks so much for the review! It means a lot. ^^

**minshe: **I updated quickly just for you! Thanks so much for the review.

Enjoy!~

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_Chapter 32: Anger_

_Anger is a short madness.  
-Horace_

Zexion called an emergency meeting. Whatever anyone was doing they needed to drop it and come to the round room as soon as possible. Zexion was there waiting for them, an uncharacteristic scowl decorating his face. People were unnaturally quite while they waited for him to speak, a meeting like this was only supposed to be used for when something bad happened. As soon as everyone was there Zexion wasted no time.

"Who is responsible for this?" His voice was cold, an untamed fury was just being held back by the sheer force of will. It made everyone freeze the moment it came out. With a fling of his arm Zexion threw the now crumpled note on the ground. No one moved.

"Responsible for what?" Vexen tentatively asked. Zexion said nothing, just sent a glare at everyone then started to glare at the note.

Ever so slowly, Demyx went forward and grabbed the note. Taking a deep breath he started to read it aloud.

"_Zexion,_

Good luck, but I am afraid that you will never see her again. Have fun with the rest of your life alone. I've been planning this for years, and I'll be damned if I let something as little as you two becoming rulers get in the way. I know that you will search for her, but I can promise you that for the rest of your life that you will never see her again.

_Best of luck in the searches that bring you nowhere."_

When he finished, the room was left in shock. Namine was close to tears. Then as a group they all seemed to realize something. Emi wasn't in the room.

"Zexion, where is Emi?" Xemnas asked. Zexion shook in anger.

"I don't know! That's why I'm here! If any of you have any idea where she is you need to let me know right now." The room was silent except Namine's quite crying.

"Hey everyone what is up!" Axel came barreling into the room, oblivious of what was going on. He didn't even seem to notice why everyone was staring at him in shock and horror. He just walked over to where Xion and Roxas were, and casually stood with them.

"So Zexy why did ya call us here?"

"Axel where is she?" Zexion growled, Axel looked at him in surprise.

"Who? Emi? I don't know where she is, did you check the library?"

"I know you know where she is! You were the only one who had a grudge against her. Tell me where she is!" Zexion lunged at Axel, only to have Lexaeus hold him back.

"I don't know what you're talking about! I haven't seen her in forever." Axel crossed his arms across his chest.

"Yes you do!" Zexion screamed. Everyone winced at the desperation in his voice.

"Zexion calm down." Lexaeus said in his voice of stone.

"Not till he tells me." But already his struggles were dwindling.

"Look how about we go and look for her, alright?" Vexen calmly said. Zexions struggles died and he nodded.

Slowly everyone left to go and search other places. Some went to go and search the castle; others went and searched the library. Zexion left with Vexen and Lexaeus to go and search Castle Oblivion. Xion, Roxas and Axel were the last three to leave.

"You want to come with us Axel?" Roxas asked.

"Nah, you guys go on without me." Xion nodded the two left.

Axel looked around the room one last time, making sure he was the only one here. Once he was sure he was alone, he started laughing. First it was a light chuckle, but then it slowly grew until he couldn't stand on his own. He laughed on the ground, hysterical, clutching his stomach with the sheer force of it.

Finally though, he slowly stopped laughing, got up and walked out of the room like he had never been there.

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Short chapter but I hope you guys like it. I really wanted to write a mad Zexion. ^-^

Read and review please!


	33. Waking Up

__So I wanted to update, but still wont let me respond to reviews but I just wanted to say thank you for all the reviews and supporting me throughout this story. ^-^

But I do have another announcement. On Tuesday I have to have jaw surgery, so I wont be able to update for a while. I'll try to update before then, but I dont think that its likely.

Well enough of my troubles,

Enjoy!~

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_Chapter 33: __Waking Up_

_There is a moment in the morning when I just wake up and there is a split second of peace. And then it all comes back. All of it._

_-Criminal Minds 'Mosley Lane'_

Have a quote here about something to so with how just when you think everything is okay, it all goes to hell.

The waves of drowsiness slowly receded. It was as if there was fog on her mind that had decided that it wanted to join the rest of the clouds where it belonged. Yet as Emi became more aware of her surroundings she became exceedingly aware that something was wrong.

First thing she noticed was that it was cold. Colder than she had ever encountered in the castle or anywhere else. She shivered at the cold, her body trying to keep whatever heat it had. When she tried to move she realized that she couldn't, another thing that she noticed was wrong. Her wrists and ankles were tied, with something sharp and painful, causing her pain whenever she moved them. As soon as she got that first dart of pain from her wrists and ankles, it was like all the fog lifted at once, and she found herself in a room that she didn't recognize at all.

Emi could barely move besides lifting her head, and she could barely do that since she had a pounding headache. When she finally could look around she saw that she was in a dark, poorly lit room. Emi could tell that she was tied to a bed, and on further inspection she realized that each one of her limbs were tied to one of the bed posts with what looked like _barbed wire_. No wonder it hurt her to move, she could see that just from the few movements that she had already made she had drawn blood. When her head ache faded a little she lifted her head up again and discovered why she was so cold. She was naked, with just a thin sheet covering her body.

When Emi discovered that she started to panic a little, everything was pilling together all at once. She didn't know where she was, how she had gotten here or what was going to happen. But before Emi let herself go into a panic she took a couple deep breathes and tried to think of everything calmly and rationally. She couldn't just rip her way out of the constrictions on account of how sharp the barbed wire was, so she did the only thing she could think of, she summoned her katana. But nothing happened. She tried using magic to heal her cuts, and nothing happened. It was like all of the sudden she was totally useless, nothing she tried worked.

Emi relaxed back into the bed, knowing that until somebody showed up, she wouldn't be able to do anything. It wasn't even that long before she heard someone walking down the hallway. She heard the door to the room opening, and someone walked in. Emi breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was someone who couldn't hurt her, a girl of about her age. The girl didn't hesitate but walked right over to where Emi was tied on the bed and set herself about untying her bonds. When Emi opened her mouth to say something to her, the girl placed a finger over her lips in a signal to be quiet. Emi nodded, and the girl went back to getting the barbed wire off.

It wasn't more than five minutes later that the girl had gotten the wire off. Emi got up, using the sheet as a makeshift dress, and the girl motioned her to follow her out of the room. But right when they were about to get out of the room, they heard to voices on the other side of the door.

"Sephy you should have seem the look on her face!" laughter echoed through the room, it sounded familiar to Emi but she couldn't place it.

"Will you shut up already? Lets see if our little guest has woken up yet." The other man said. Their footsteps got closer and closer to where they were with every passing second.

Thinking as quickly as she could, Emi did the only thing that she could think of at the moment. Emi shoved the girl that helped her under the bed, and got back on the bed. She covered herself up with the sheet, placed her hands and ankles through the barbed wire, in her haste she cut herself a couple of times, but she ignored it. As she heard the door start to open she laid her head down and evened her breathing, making it seem as though she was still asleep. Emi listened as she heard the two sets of footsteps get nearer to the bedside, and she assumed that they were looking at her.

"Ahhhhh, she's still asleep! It's been three days already! You would think that she would be awake by now!" The voice that sounded familiar whined.

"Axel, I am going to kill you myself if you don't shut up already. You gave her some heavy drugs; I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't wake up for a couple more days. Lets go, when she wakes up then you can have your fun." Emi's eyes almost shot open when she heard Axels name. How she managed to keep her calm was a mystery even to herself. After she heard the door open and close and their footsteps faded down the hallway, Emi opened her eyes.

As quietly as possible Emi slipped down from the bed. Looking under it she saw that the girl was still there, curled up in a ball with her arms over her head. Emi gently reached out and tugged her sleeve, letting the girl know that everything was okay. Together they both left the room, taking no chances as they ran as quietly as they could, trying to find an exit. Eventually they came across a window that was open. They were lucky, since they were only on the first floor so they just had to climb out of the window.

As soon as their feet hit the ground outside they stated running. They ran side by side, not daring to look back; they both feared that if they did look they would see the two men running after them. But they couldn't run forever and finally stopped inside of an alley, panting and leaning against the wall for support. When they caught their breath the other girl ventured a look out on the street, to see if they really were being followed. When they saw they weren't both of them breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now that were safe, who do I have to thank?" Emi finally said.

The other girl looked at her with a soft smile on her lips. "Child you didn't know it was me?" Emi's jaw dropped as she stared in shock.

"Selene?" Emi barely managed to get out.

"Yes, I told you that I would personally make sure that you would be safe from now on." She said. Emi didn't know what to do. She leaned against the wall, suddenly to tired to stand in her own. Emi slid down so that she was sitting on the ground, her sheet still tightly wrapped around her.

"Now Axel gave you some powerful drugs to knock you out. That drug also temporarily disabled your powers. For the next couple of days you wont be able to do any of the things that you normally do." Selene suddenly got a very sad expression on her face. "But there is one more thing."

"What?" Emi didn't know how she could take any more. It seemed that just when she was getting used to stability in her life it all went to hell.

"Axel is not going to stop searching for you. And neither will Zexion. You've been missing for three days, but I cant let you go back to the castle just yet. I'm sorry child but I will have to hide away your memories." She looked like she just told someone that their parents were going to die.

"Erase my memories? Why do you have to do that?" Whatever tiredness Emi felt evaporated away with this news. She stood up to face Selene directly.

"I know that it doesn't seem to make sense but Axel has that man Sephiroth with him. And that man can find people through their memories. Listen to me though before you object, if they find you they will kill you, and this time I wont be able to intervene to save you like I did this time. I wouldn't be offering this if I didn't have any other choice."

Emi looked at the ground, biting her lip anxiously. She didn't want to loose her memories but at the same time she didn't want to die. But after debating in her head what she should do she came to a decision.

"If you do this, can you promise me that I will one day get my memories back, and that I will see Zexion again?" Emi finally asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"Yes, I promise you." Selene said with no hesitation.

Emi nodded, silently agreeing with what Selene had proposed. Selene raised her hand and everything in Emi's vision went dark. Emi thought of the last time she had seen Zexion, and of their kiss. Right as her world went dark, Emi could have sworn she saw a tear roll down Selene's cheek.

-X-X-X-X-

In the castle, Zexion sat in the library, sitting in the exact same spot that Emi had last sat in by the window. Shiloh was curled around his ankles, looking as distraught as Zexion felt on the inside. He didn't know what to do, Emi had been kidnapped and he couldn't help her, he felt like this was his entire fault.

With a sigh he opened a portal to the clearing where he had first met Emi, however unofficially. Shiloh stayed by his side the whole time, even though he didn't know where he was going. Zexion really didn't know what he was going to do; he didn't know where to look or even how to start. Zexion just wanted Emi back. Zexion felt like he was lost without her, and he didn't want to be here anymore if he knew that there was the chance that Emi could never come back. But at the same time that was what kept him going, knowing that she could and probably would find her way back home. He didn't even realize what a huge impact she had on his life until she was gone, but now he couldn't stop noticing how drab and empty it was without her in it.

Zexion and Shiloh had been there a while, a couple of hours at least, when suddenly Shiloh got excited. Like he just heard something or he was told that Emi was coming back. With one last look at Zexion, Shiloh took off running straight into the woods, barking happily as he went. Zexion started to go after him, but something inside him told him to let Shiloh go, that he would see him again.

But in a way, Zexion couldn't help but feel like he just lost his last connection to Emi.

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This chapter took forever to write.

Read and review please!


	34. Never Give Up

Merry Christmas everyone! I am finally back from the land of not updating!

I'm still recovering from surgery but I'm doing well and I even managed to update sooner than I thought I would.

Have a great Christmas and I hope its filled with merriment and laughter.

Enjoy!~

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_Chapter 34: Never Give Up_

_You're taken away from me,_  
_you're taken away from my heart._  
_You're runnin' away with my love,_  
_I never even got a start._

___-Before you Exit_

_Six months._

It's been six months, but I know that Emi is still out there. There's no way something bad could have happened right? I would have known or felt something. So what if we haven't gotten any clue of where she has been or if anyone has seen her. Its not like Emi could have just dropped right off the planet. She has to be somewhere, and I know that we will find her out there. Why did you disappear? Who took you? Will I ever see you again? I have to believe that we will find you, no matter what happens or how much time passes.

I know you're out there, I just know it.

_One year._

Still nothing. But I _know_ she's out there. There has to be some way to find her, and I will do whatever it takes to find her. Even though we live forever, others are already telling me to call of some of the searches, to bring the resources back to where it's really needed. But I can't give up yet, sure it's been a year, but I can't just give up hope.

I never would have thought time could go by so slowly, but every minute without her seems like an eternity. I never thought that anything would matter more to me than my schemes but she changed all that. I never would have guessed that someone would have such as big an impact as she did. I promise you that I will find you, even if I die trying, I will die trying knowing I did all that I could.

Emi, I know you're out there, and I will find you.

_Three years._

To think that I haven't seen her in three years. I would have thought that we would have found her by now, but we still haven't even gotten a hint. Part of me keeps hoping that she will just show up, with Shiloh by her side, acting like she never had left. But we haven't heard of anything, or any person that even resembles her appearance.

We can't do the searches anymore, I just don't have anyone willing to look anymore. But that doesn't matter, I don't care if I have to search every town and city all over the world by myself, I will find her again. I made a promise to myself that I would protect her, and I'll be damned before I break that.

There has to be something that I am missing, some detail that would lead me to her that I am just overlooking. But what could it be? Now that I really think about it, I haven't heard from the goddess since Emi went missing, she hasn't checked in once. I need to contact her, see if she could tell me anything that I am missing.

_Five years._

Five fucking years and not a thing to tell me where she could possibly be. Hell right now I would give my right arm just to know what continent she was on. Emi I haven't seen you in five years, I don't know what to do anymore. I know your out there, but where are you? I don't know how long I can be without you anymore, its eating me away inside. What's keeping you away? Has anything happened to you? Where are you? Where is Shiloh? I still haven't seen him since that night he disappeared.

You have to be out there somewhere, and no one will help me look anymore. I don't even hear from the goddess anymore, its like she is ignoring me. If you don't give me some sort of hint soon, I wont even be able to make our own coven look for you anymore. Even Namine seems to have given up. They all don't want to think about you anymore, I think that it makes them sad to think that you're probably never going to come back.

No I can't think that way. She _will_ come back, I cant give up hope now of all times. But Emi I miss you so much, and you've been gone for five years. These little updates that I have been writing were supposed to help me but all they do is remind me of how I have nothing to lead me to you. I thought that we had gotten past the difficult time, and that it was supposed to be smooth sailing, but how can it be if your not here?

Three days later.

I don't even know why I am writing this, I should be going. Emi we have found you, finally. The goddess said she could help me, she said the danger had finally passed. But now were on our way, and nothing is going to stop me when I am so close.

After five long years, I am finally going to have you back.

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I wanted to show a timeline of how long Emi has been gone and how Zexion was struggling.

Read and review!


	35. Who am I?

__I realized I haven't updated in forever *le gasp* :0

Enjoy!~

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_Chapter 35: Who am I?_

_Who are you _  
_Who who who who_  
_Who are you _  
_Who who who who_

_-The Who_

Who am I?

They had told her that they had found her wandering through the streets, wearing nothing but a thin sheet. The police took her to a hospital, where apparently she had immediately fallen asleep. But she hadn't remembered anything other than waking up in a bed, in apparently what was a hospital. Everything was strange to her; the doctors told her that she has amnesia. They called her Selene, since apparently it was what she had been muttering in her half conscious state. Yet she remembered nothing, and let them call her Selene, even though the name felt wired to her.

Selene was put on the found persons report, but nothing had been reported, no family had found her. She had spent a couple days in the hospital before they said that besides the amnesia, she was perfectly fine. She left the hospital with no money and only a name that didn't feel right to call her own. The police were nice, and found her a job, working as a waitress for some restaurant. Soon she had made enough money to get a small apartment, and every once and a while the police would come and check on her to make sure that everything was going all right.

At her job, Selene barely spoke, but she did her job well. They never had a reason to fire her, and though she looked for a better job no one was hiring at all. It was like that for a couple of months, she worked hard and tried to stay out of other people's business. But after those couple of months she found herself making friends with her other female coworkers. They all seemed to get along well, and Selene found herself talking more and more.

There were the offers from guys as well. It seemed like every guy that she met who was single tried to hit on her or ask her out. But every single one she rejected, frustrating both the men chasing her and her friends. No one could understand why she wouldn't date someone if she was single and able to. Selene didn't want to date anyone though, she always felt as if there was already someone she was committed to. And even though she couldn't remember who it was or her past, she was unwilling to date while she still had that feeling.

It was one day that she was walking home from work that Selene came across an interesting sight. In an alley was a dog, was surrounded by kids, all of them teasing it and throwing things at it. Selene didn't know what possessed her to do it but before she could stop herself she was running forward towards all of them. When she got closer she saw that the poor dog was bleeding in multiple places, and looked exhausted and travel weary.

"Hey you kids! Get away from that dog!" She shouted. The kids took one look at her running over to them and ran in the opposite direction, dropping their weapons as well.

The poor thing looked half starved. It cowered in a corner, trying to make itself as small as possible. Selene gently kneeled down in front of him, trying to show that she wasn't a threat to him. Ever so slowly she reached her hand forward and brought in front of his nose, letting him take in her scent. As soon as he did smell her, his tail started wagging, and he gently licked her hand. Smiling gently she stood up, and watched the dog do the same as well. Selene slowly walked out of the alley, the dog obediently followed right at her heels. He seemed more than happy to follow her all the way back to her apartment, even with his obvious fatigue and wounds.

As Selene got bandages, the dog made himself at home, if one didn't know better it was like he had been living here with her for years. And since Selene wasn't going to be getting rid of him anytime soon, she had to think of a name. She wanted to name him something with an 's', but couldn't decide. After some deliberation she decided on the name Shinikoru. It sounded nice to her, and when she said it to him he looked happy. After she cleaned his wounds and bandaged those that were still open, he promptly fell asleep, tired from whatever journey he had been on.

After that time passed on, and Selene seemed to become more and more aware of just how _different _she was from other people. She could do amazing things, things that other people couldn't. The first thing she noticed was that she could do magic, actual magic. She could heal others at a whim and yet curse them with what she called her 'black' magic. And whenever she was in trouble or sensed danger these swords would appear right in her hands, coming out of nowhere. The moon was heart shaped to what only seemed to be her eyes. Selene would never loose a fight either, no matter what or who the challenger was she could always beat them. The strangest thing of all that she couldn't help noticing was something that started a little while after Shinikoru showed up. She could hear other people's thoughts, even the thoughts of Shinikoru himself. Selene knew better to tell anyone about what was different about her but she wanted to tell someone, anyone, but she really had no one to tell.

It was when five years of her life passed in this life that thing started to go wrong. It couldn't always be sunshine and rainbows, and it wasn't. Her boss at the restaurant had always been a little 'close', and Selene had always managed to get away from him. But eventually he started to get more aggressive, and more demanding about it. He always threatened that if she didn't do as he wanted, then she would loose her job and with no one hiring she couldn't say no. Her boss made it known that he practically owned her, and that no other guy could come near her. Selene constantly looked for jobs, but it seemed like she was stuck there.

But still it was a nice small life that Selene had, and anyone else would have been happy for it, but she wasn't. She couldn't help but feel like there was something missing from her life, that she had originally been destined for something much greater than what she had now. It wasn't until five years into her life that she really did realize that she wasn't meant to be there in the first place, and that it was just a bad string of events that led her to the place she was at.

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What did you think? I know a lot of text, but still read and review please!


	36. Found You

Let me see...about two more chapters. I really can not believe that I am almost done with this story.

Enjoy!~

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_Chapter 36: Found You_

_If this harsh reality tries to break us apart, it'll just bring us closer than ever._

_-Utada Hikaru 'Prisoner of Love'_

The day had been a busy one; people had constantly been coming in, leaving the restaurant packed. From about an hour after they started until an hour before they closed everyone was busy, and people barely had time to take breaks. Selene did her job without complaint, but time seemed to drag on and she just couldn't wait to get out of there. She could tell that it was angering her boss how he got to spend no time with her or even a chance to talk to her, but Selene was glad for that, she didn't want to talk to him when he was in one of his 'playful' moods.

But when all the customers had left and it was time for closing, another group of people came in. Selene paid them no mind and continued to clean up and check out, leaving the group to be looked after by someone else. But as she started to go to the door leading outside one of the other waitresses caught her.

"Selene wait! The group that just came in they only want you to wait on them." The girl looked as tired as Selene felt.

"I'm not going to do it, tell them they have to find someone else." She said, taking another step out the door. The girl looked frantic now.

"Please Selene, please!" She was almost begging on her knees now, and Selene felt herself give in.

"Fine." Selene heaved a sigh as the two of them walked back to the kitchen where everyone was still waiting for them.

"What? Was no one going to deal with them but me?" Everyone either said 'yes' or just nodded, making Selene sigh again.

"They requested you anyway. Plus there's something just off about them…" One of the cooks said, Selene shook her head at him and walked out to where the group was, notebook ready in hand.

"Hi, welcome to _All Star_. My name is Selene, and I'll be your waitress today." There was a sickly sweet smile on her face, "What can I get you today?" She asked, finally looking up from her notebook.

Sitting around the restaurants one round table was a group of guys. Each was different but they all wore the same black cloak. There was only five of them sitting at the table. The person sitting directly across from where she was standing had silver hair, and then right next to him was a man with blue hair. The guy with blue hair had a scar on his face; it was the shape of an X, and right in between his eyes. There was another man that had scars as well, but his scar was different, it cut right along his cheek and he had an eye patch on as well. Eye patch guy had a bubbly blonde practically hanging off his arm, and every time he looked at Selene he started giggling like a little kid getting told that they were going to Disneyland. The final guy there was the one sitting closest one to her, he had long, sliver blue hair, and the bangs went down to cover one of his eyes. The eye that wasn't covered with hair was staring at her.

"What did you say your name was again?" the one with silver hair asked.

"Selene." Came the short reply, all she wanted to do was go home.

"Well Selene, that's an interesting tattoo. Where did you get it?"

_Cant you guys' just order already? _Selene thought.

"I don't know how I got it. Someone once told me though, that it looks like an illusion on my skin, almost like its not really there." She looked down to her pen tapping idly on the notebook.

"That's interesting. I guess for now well all have water."

Selene nodded and went to get them the water. As she was doing that she couldn't help but think about all the possible ways she had gotten her tattoo, like why she had gotten it or what it meant and how long she had had it. When she got back to the table they all ordered something but Selene wasn't paying attention anymore, she was to busy thinking about her missing memories.

Her boss was getting more and more annoyed with how long the customers were taking. He obviously wanted to go home, but apparently he didn't like how the one with the long hair was looking at her. Selene didn't say anything about it, choosing to ignore him, which just seemed to get him more annoyed. When Selene went to check on them while they were eating, her boss even decided that he was going to follow her to make sure there was no 'funny business'.

It was normal enough; she introduced her boss to them, and asked how they were doing or if they wanted anything else. In the middle of them talking she felt her boss's arms snake around her waist from behind. Acting on instinct she grabbed his arms and flipped him off of her, making him land on his back on the ground.

"I told you never to do that at work." Selene practically growled out, in return all she got was a loud groan as he got up.

"Come with me now." He said as he nursed his hurt pride.

Everyone watched as he led Selene into his office. As soon as his door was shut there was shouting, mainly from him. The entire restaurant was silent as they tried to make out what he was yelling. Suddenly they heard Selene's voice yell back at him, they couldn't understand what she was saying but it was all muffled because of the door. Then sound of someone hitting the other echoed through the restaurant, the door opened and Selene came out, a red handprint on her face. Everyone left in the restaurant was in complete shock. Selene left through the entrance, and her boss came up to talk to them.

"Sorry you had to hear that, but Selene is no longer working for us. Can I get you anything instead?" He looked like nothing had happened at all, almost like he just stated the weather.

In front of him, he watched as all five of the guys get up from where they were sitting. But before he could blink he was on the ground, clutching his now broken nose. Looking up he saw the man with the long bangs man looking down at him.

"No man, should ever hit a woman, no matter what she says or does." With that the five of them left the restaurant, leaving the man on the ground with a broken nose and his employees cheering from the kitchen.

Outside Selene was heading down the street, in the direction she vaguely recognized as the path to her apartment. All she could think about was how she was going to support herself and Shinikoru, and how she was going to pay her bills and all her other responsibilities that she couldn't do anymore because she just got fired. Her cheek still stung a little, and she rubbed it idly but she could tell that it wasn't going to leave a bruise and that it probably wasn't even red anymore. She sighed as she thought about all that she had been through in the past five years just to keep that job, only to loose it all in one night. About a block away from her apartment, she heard footsteps behind her. Selene whipped around to face whatever was approaching her, ready to fight.

All that was behind her was one of the guys she had been waiting on back at the restaurant. It was the guy with the long bangs and the blue hair, his friends weren't with him and he was quickly approaching her with a determined look. Selene didn't drop her guard. When they were finally about three feet away from each other, he spoke.

"I'm sorry about what happened." He said. Selene just shrugged.

"It happens." Silence descended over them again.

"I could take you away from here, you know. Now that you don't have a job. You can come with me, and get far away from this place."

Selene stared at him in surprise. She couldn't believe that this guy that she hardly met was offering this to her. She didn't know whether to go with him or not. One the one hand he could be a psycho and kill her, but on the other hand it wasn't like she was going to stay in her apartment for very long. And also whatever he tried to do to her she could always stop him, since no one had ever been able to beat her. Yet most importantly, she felt like she could trust him. Selene had never felt this way around anyone since she had woken up, and she didn't want to loose him.

"Okay, but I'll have to get a few things from my apartment before we go." He nodded and followed her as she led the rest of the way to her apartment. When they entered as soon as Shinikoru saw him, he seemed to go absolutely ballistic with delight. He jumped all over the man, barking and laughing for joy while the guy just laughed. He kept calling Shinikoru some thing that sounded like 'Shiloh', but Selene paid it no mind. In barely ten minutes she had a duffle bag packed with her few possessions and clothes that she had. When she went back to the living room the guy was sitting on her couch with Shinikoru lying next to him, Shinikoru's head was in his lap.

"I don't think I ever got your name." She said, making the guy look up.

"Zexion." He said as he got up, Shinikoru jumping up as well.

"Well Zexion, lets go then." Selene moved to the door of her apartment, but Zexion just raised his hand. In front of him appeared this swirling thing of darkness. Shinikoru jumped right into it, but Selene hesitated, not knowing of it was safe or not.

Zexion held out his hand to her, and after staring at it for a while she slowly slipped her hand into his. Zexion gave her a smile, and they walked hand in hand through the portal.

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This was one of my favorite chapters to write. Read and review like always!


	37. Home is where you belong

__I can't believe I forgot to update! I'm so sorry!

Enjoy!~

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_Chapter 37: Home is where you belong_

_"Most of American life consists of driving somewhere and then returning home, wondering why the hell you went."_

_- John Updike_

White, that was the first thing that Selene saw. The second thing was that there were a lot of people there as well. She immediately let go of Zexions hand, and distanced herself from him. She missed the contact keeping her steady, but at the same time she didn't want these people to think badly about her. Shinikoru jumped around and was saying high to everyone, except for one person who he even growled at. He even jumped up to say hi to a girl with blonde hair and a white dress, almost knocking her down. But whenever this guy with red hair took a step near him or Selene he would growl menacingly, making the red head stop immediately and scowl.

"Selene I'll introduce you to everyone later, for now I'll show you where your room will be." Zexion said. Selene nodded and followed him, whistling for Shinikoru to follow her. He followed grudgingly, but not without whining first. After a bit they arrived at a room, and Zexion led her inside. It was filled with books, and looked recently used. As if sensing her thoughts, Zexion started to talk.

"We have a shortage of rooms, so you will be staying with me in my room." Selene nodded her head and placed her bag down, and began to look around. She was immediately drawn to the window seat, and sat down. She felt like she was returning to a place that she hadn't been to in a while. She relaxed there and looked out the window, but immediately sat up again, staring at the moon. It was heart shaped here as well; giving her reassurance that she hadn't traveled to far.

The sound of the door opening and closing brought her out of her thoughts, and Selene discovered that she was alone, and that both Shinikoru and Zexion had left. Ever so slowly she moved around the room and started to look at everything that she could, trying to gather as much information that she could while she was alone. It seemed that all that was there were books until she looked under the bed and discovered two bags. One was a red and black over the shoulder bag, and the other was a duffle bag.

Selene sifted through the over the shoulder bag first, but there were only some books in there so she quickly put it to the side for later. In the duffle bag were clothes and some other objects but nothing really of interest. Until she got to the bottom and discovered large leather bound book. It seemed to be a collage of news articles, starting with a rather tragic one.

Mother died in car accident, leaves two children behind.

The next one was years later, but still just as sad.

_Young man missing presumed dead._

The final one was from more recently, only about five years ago.

_Richard Izumi found guilty. _

Every single one had the mention of a girl named Emmaline Izumi in it, always referred to as Emi for short. Whoever this girl had been, she had been through a lot in her life. And either she had put this together or someone had loved her enough to put this together for her. For some reason the thoughts of this girl made Selene want to cry, but keeping a neutral face she held back the tears that threatened to spill. Slowly she closed the book and placed it back in the duffle bag, leaving it where she found it.

As she made her way to the door to find her way back to the main room, a voice stopped her. Behind her a woman stood, with waist length curly brown hair, and bare feet. She smiled softly at her, but Selene's guard was up from wondering how this woman got in.

"I told you I'd keep my promise Emi." She said in a soft voice before she moved forward and raised her hand and lightly touched Selene's forehead. Before Selene passed out, she was left wondering how the woman got from five feet away to right in front of her.

-X-X-X-X-

She awoke groggily on the ground, blinking blurrily at the area around her. She was still in the same place before that woman had come, and she still felt the same to. She sat up from the ground, holding her hand to the place the woman had touched it. Then out of nowhere it was like a damn broke in her mind, memories seemed to pour through her mind out of nowhere.

Her mothers death, when she was raped, Vanitas dying, meeting Zexion, her trails, Selene, her father finally getting arrested, becoming the leaders of the vampiric society, getting kidnapped, and finally agreeing to have her memories erased. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she bolted out of the room, trying to move as fast as she possibly could to Zexion. Her mind was going a mile a minute, trying to process everything while still being sane. One thought kept going through her mind.

Five years, I've been gone for five years…

That thought alone made her go even faster until finally she made it. With no hesitation at all she burst through the doors, making every head turn in her direction. But Emi paid them no mind, because all she was looking for was Zexion. Finally she spotted him and ran to him, leaping into his arms. Sobbing even more than before she kept saying his name as a chant, the only thing keeping her sane. His face was buried in the crook of her neck, taking in the scent he had missed too much. Zexion would say her name as much as she was saying his, his arms wrapping around her waist to keep her close as her arms went around his neck.

They didn't know how long they stayed like that, but it was like they were trying to make up for lost time. Finally though when they moved apart just a little the entire room watched as instead of pulling apart further they slowly kissed. As soon as they did the entire room burst into applause, everyone clapping and smiling for joy. When they broke apart, Emi went and gave hug to her sister, who had also started crying. But she never ventured far from Zexion's side.

"Emi…where have you been?" Namine finally asked. The entire room seemed to freeze as Namine asked the question that they all wanted to.

"Well, why don't you ask Axel? I mean he was the one who caused it all." She said. Everyone turned to look at him.

"What? She's lying." Axel said, throwing his arms up in defense.

"Really Axel, so you're not the one who kidnapped me? You're not the one who was responsible for me being gone for _five years_?" Emi stepped forward, a harsh lint in her eye, summoning her blades. As she walked forward, she raised her blades to strike him down, but a voice stopped her.

"That is enough." Selene appeared out of nowhere. Everyone was shocked except for Emi and Zexion.

"Axel, from here on out you are banished. You are now the lowest of the low. No other vampire is allowed to talk to you, and every human will be afraid of you. You are to forever walk this Earth, with no solace to be found." Selene declared. Then she was gone in a flash of white, like she had never been there in the first place.

"You heard the Goddess. You have two days to pack and say goodbye." Zexion suddenly said.

"What? You can't do this to me!" Axel yelled, everyone ignored him though.

"So…what have I missed?" Emi said effectively breaking the silence.

* * *

Review please! Let me know how you feel knowing this story is almost over?


	38. The End

It's the final chapter. The end.

Enjoy!~

* * *

_Chapter 38: The End_

_Every end is just a new begining_

_-Proverb_

There is nothing more devastating than loosing a loved one. Knowing that you will never hear their voice again, see their smile, or feel their presence again is nothing short of heart breaking. A couple of people felt this way after Axel left. Xion and Roxas were among the top two; those three were always together, causing mischief and trouble wherever they went. But now with Axel gone it was just the two of them, leaving the two feeling as if they were missing a big part of themselves.

When Axel left, it was a mix of relief and heartbreak, or joy and sadness.

_**~Flashback~**_

A portal was open in the middle of the room, leading somewhere known to everyone but Axel. He had a bag over his shoulders, of what few possessions he was allowed and some supplies he might need. He stared at the portal in disgust, a scowl gracing his features.

"Come on is this really that necessary?" Axel whined. Xion started to cry while Roxas comforted her, even though he looked close to tears himself.

"If I had my way Axel you'd be dead." Zexion said calmly.

Axel cringed, "I get it, I'll go." He looked over to Roxas and Xion.

"Don't worry you two, I'll be fine." He said to them. Then he turned to Emi and Zexion, who glared at him.

"I'll be back one day." He stared Emi straight in the eye before turning and walking out of the portal.

All was silent when Axel was gone. Everyone could feel Zexion and Emi's mixed feelings of relief and anger, and they could also feel Xion and Roxas' never ending depression. Eventually, though, one by one, they all left to go about their business, like Axel had never left.

_**~Flashback end~**_

It had been a little over six months since Axel had left. In that time they managed to get a couple of new members. Vexen had managed to find his mate, a pink haired male called Marluxia, and Lexaeus and Xaldin managed to find theirs. Lexaeus was with a shrill woman named Larxene. She was only ever nice to Lexaeus and Marluxia, and only listened to Zexion and Emi because she had to. Xaldin had found his while hunting at a casino, his name was Luxord. He was nice enough, except every Thursday night Emi and Zexion have to stop the entire castle from killing him when he beats all the girls and guys in strip poker.

Roxas and Xion eventually adapted to life without Axel, and became closer with the other people in the castle. Soon all the girls, even Larxene, created their own club, where once a month they would have a sleepover, gossip and do really girly things like that. Every time they would have to drag Emi and Larxene to it, even though the two secretly loved it.

Everything seemed to be going great. Demyx would still drag the entire group out for random days at the pool, and slowly but surely Emi learned how to swim. She was now one of the best swimmers. Emi would still go and hide in her little place in the library, and she never told anyone about it, keeping it all to herself.

The only thing that was wrong was Axel's last words. _'I'll be back one day.'_ Those words haunted her in her sleep, and wouldn't leave her mind during the day. Emi didn't want to think about what he would do if he ever found his way back. Zexion tried to comfort her, but she pushed him away, knowing deep in her heart that one day Axel would return just like he promised.

Her father was locked away in jail. It turned out that when she showed them Vanitas' body they found enough forensic evidence to put him behind bars. They didn't even need her in person since they had recorded everything she had said. It gave her a little comfort knowing that one of the threats was safely behind bars, and wasn't going to be able to hurt her or anyone else anytime soon.

Everything was right with the world. Everyone was with who they should be, there had been no threats since Axel left, and it seemed like everyone was as happy as could be. Years slipped by without notice, everyone forgetting about the troubles that first haunted them.

Emi was finally able to smile freely. Most importantly she was happy.

* * *

I cried after I wrote that last sentence. It was just so overwhelming to me that this story that I had been working on for over a year was over.

Amazing shout outs:

**KingdomHeartsLoverLovesYou**- You gave me the best reviews I could have asked for. You stuck by my side through this entire story, and I dedicate this last chapter to you.

**LOKI IS KING**- You were the one who gave me actual criticism, and I always tried to improve on what you said

**Steph the bat 11**- You always encouraged me to update. Thank you.

Guess what though? There's a sequel! The first chapter is up on my profile! Go check it out!

I loved writing this story, and I look forward to writing the sequel.

Thank you to everyone who stuck with me and read this story!


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